Did busy office hours leave you with no time to file your tax returns(ITR) by the July 2014 deadline? Did the heavy July rains stopped you from meeting your chartered accountant? Festivals and weekends travels disrupted your plans to file it on the last weekend too? You still have a breather.

You can still file your tax returns by March 31, 2015. The late returns would be considered as valid returns. Provided you fulfil certain conditions you wouldn't even have to bear any penalty. The Income Taxdepartment allows a tax payer to file returns till the end of the assessment year (a year succeeding the income-earning year).

Given the last deadline is more than a fortnight away, it is in your interest to file late return than never filing a return. This is because since the past year the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) is on the lookout for non-tax-return filers. You don't want your heart to pump faster upon receiving a non-filing notice.

In a notification, Commissioner of Income Tax(C&S) at CBDT, B K Sinha, had stated, "In the first round of data, matching, 12.19 lakh non-filers were identified. Letters have been sent. More than 5,36,220 returns have been received, apart from collection of self-assessment tax of Rs 1017.87 crore." Additional 21.75 lakh potential non-filers have been identified and the Income Tax Department has informed that they would continue to pursue the "non-filers vigorously".

So, gather your essential documents and proactively file late returns before March 31.

Let us understand the conditions, which allow you to file late returns. Returns for the income earned in financial year 2013-14 (assessment year 2014-15), can be filed by March 31, 2015, without paying the Rs 5,000 penalty.

If you missed filing the return on income earned in 2012-13 (assessment year 2013-14), then you can file those too. However, a late-filing penalty of Rs 5,000 would have to be paid for delaying this by an additional one year.

There aren't any other penalties involved if you are filing returns late, provided you have paid your liable taxes before the end of the financial year in which the income was earned – by March 31, 2014 and March 31, 2013 here. If you have tax arrears to clear then an additional penalty of 1% would be levied for each month starting April 2014/ 2013.

If you were to pay advance tax on the income then the penalty would be calculated from the advance-tax tranche deadline – 30% by July 15, 60% by December 15 and 100% by March 31.

Have you incurred losses while trading in the stock market? Are there any other losses to be carried forward? If you have these then you would repent not filing returns within the deadline of July 31, 2014. Those who haven't filed the returns by the actual deadline cannot carry forward losses to be adjusted against gains made in the future.

Don't fumble in the hurry to file late returns. Take help from a chartered accountant or tax return preparer, who would be relatively free as compared to the July rush to file returns. This is essential because if you make a mistake in the late returns there is no going back. The provision of revising the returns too is available only to those who file their returns in time.

Though there is this extended deadline of March 31, 2015, available to file late returns, you should stick to the original deadline of July 31, 2015, for the current financial year. Apart from forgoing the losses-carry-forward benefit and the option to revise returns, a major loss due to filing late returns is the interest you earn on your refunds. When it comes to refunds the clock starts ticking as soon as you file your returns (ITR).