New Delhi, Dec 22 (IANS): Last minute filers of income tax returns for financial year 2019-20 (assessment year 2020-21) need not worry about completing the process in time to beat the deadline.

The Income Tax Department has introduced the "Jhatpat Processing" feature that will allow processing of returns filed online on a real time basis with the taxpayer getting acknowledgement almost immediately.

The feature will facilitate taxpayers, who have come almost close to the deadline of filing returns, and fear that even if returns are filed, their processing would make them miss the deadline and hence, liable for penalty.

The tagline used by I-T Department for the scheme is "File karo jhat se, processing hogi pat se (file returns quickly and processing will done immediately)".

Filing of I-T returns is mandatory for individuals drawing a certain amount of income. Though normally the deadline to file ITR is July 31 of the assessment year, due the disruptions cause by Covid-19 pandemic, the government has allowed taxpayers not requiring an audit to file their ITR by December 31, 2020 and those requiring audit to file ITR latest by January 31, 2021.

With just days left for individuals to file their ITR, the new 'jhatpat processing' scheme is expected come handy to complete the process in time.

The I-T Department said in its twitter handle that 'jhatpat processing' has started for ITR-1 and 4 and taxpayers can file their IT Return for AY 2020-21 by visiting the e-filing website -- incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in.

ITR-1 or 'Sahaj' is for individuals with total income upto Rs 50 lakh, drawing salary, having one house, getting interest on bank savings and have agricultural income upto Rs 5,000. On the other hand ITR-4 is for individuals, HUFs and firms (other than LLP) having total income up to Rs 50 lakh and having income from business and profession.

The I-T Department has said that the new scheme will only be available to individuals whose ITR is verified, bank account is pre-validated, and there are no arrears, income discrepancy, TDS or challan mismatch.

What the new scheme provides is that e-verification of returns can be done by taxpayers using one of the selected modes that includes registered mobile number, net banking, demat account number, bank ATM, bank account number, Aadhaar OTP and e-mail ID.