E-Verifying a Return, and What Happens If You Do Not

Uploading a return is not the end of filing it. Until the return is verified, by digital signature, by an electronic verification code or by a signed paper acknowledgement, the department treats it as unfinished. The window for verification is 30 days from upload. A return verified on day 31 is treated as filed on day 31. If day 31 falls after the due date, the return becomes a belated return, with every consequence that carries. A return never verified is treated as never filed. The cost of the delay is out of all proportion to the act, which usually takes under a minute.

Which Act governs which year

• Returns for assessment year 2026-27 (financial year 2025-26) and earlier are verified under the Income-tax Act, 1961. Section 140 says who verifies, and the return forms and the Income-tax Rules, 1962 prescribe how. The 30-day rule comes from the Centralised Processing of Returns Scheme, 2011, made under section 143(1A), whose rule 14 empowers the Director General of Income-tax (Systems) to specify the mode, manner and time of verification. Two notifications made under that power are discussed below: Notification No. 05 of 2022 and Notification No. 2 of 2024.
• Returns for tax year 2026-27 onwards fall under the Income-tax Act, 2025. Section 265 sets out, in a table, who verifies for each kind of person. Rule 164(12) and (13) of the Income-tax Rules, 2026 prescribes the modes. Section 270(6) empowers the Board to make a scheme for centralised processing. Under section 536(2)(j) and (u), notifications and schemes issued under the 1961 Act continue, so far as consistent, as if issued under the corresponding provisions of the 2025 Act. Read with those clauses, the 30-day rule carries over. This guide has found no notification under the 2025 Act that replaces it. The portal’s transition FAQ says that “electronic verification through Aadhaar OTP, net banking, Digital signature or other prescribed modes will continue”.

Who verifies

Section 140 of the 1961 Act and section 265 of the 2025 Act give materially the same table:

• an individual verifies his own return, or his guardian does if he is mentally incapacitated, or a person holding his power of attorney does where he cannot verify for another reason;
• a Hindu undivided family’s return is verified by the karta, or by another adult member if the karta is absent from India or incapacitated;
• a company’s return is verified by the managing director, or a director where there is none or he cannot act, or by the liquidator, principal officer or insolvency professional in the cases listed;
• a firm’s return is verified by the managing partner, or any adult partner;
• an LLP’s return is verified by the designated partner, or any partner;
• for a local authority, political party, other association and any other person, the table names the officer or member concerned.

The modes, and who may use which

Rule 164(12) of the 2026 Rules sets out the modes by class of person for returns under the 2025 Act.

Person	Modes
Company	Digital signature only
Person whose accounts are audited (section 63 of the 2025 Act; section 44AB of the 1961 Act)	Digital signature, or electronic verification code (EVC)
Any other person	Digital signature, EVC, or upload followed by a signed ITR-V
Individual aged eighty or more filing ITR-1 or ITR-4	The above, or a paper return

The portal’s “How to e-Verify” FAQ lists the online routes:

• Aadhaar OTP, to the mobile number linked with Aadhaar;
• an EVC through a pre-validated, EVC-enabled bank account or demat account;
• an EVC generated at a bank ATM;
• net banking;
• digital signature (DSC).

The FAQ notes that DSC verification is available “only immediately after filing”. It is not offered if “e-Verify Later” was chosen. An EVC is a 10-digit alphanumeric code valid for 72 hours. Verification can be done before login, with PAN, assessment year and acknowledgement number, or after login. Success shows a transaction ID and sends an e-mail.

ITR-V by post. Under Notification No. 2 of 2024, the signed ITR-V “shall be sent either through ordinary or speed post or in any other mode” to the Centralised Processing Centre, Income Tax Department, Bengaluru – 560500, Karnataka.

The 30-day window

Notification No. 05 of 2022

The Director General of Income-tax (Systems) issued Notification No. 05 of 2022 on 29 July 2022, effective from 1 August 2022. It cut the time for e-verification or ITR-V from 120 days to “30 days from the date of transmitting/uploading the data of return of income electronically”. Returns uploaded before that date kept the 120 days. Paragraph 6 states the consequence:

• where the return is verified within 30 days, “the date of transmitting the data electronically shall be considered as the date of furnishing the return of income”;
• where it is verified after 30 days, “the date of e-verification/ITR-V submission shall be treated as the date of furnishing the return of income and all consequences of late filing of return under the Act shall follow”.

Paragraph 8 made the date of dispatch by speed post the relevant date for a paper ITR-V.

Notification No. 2 of 2024

Notification No. 2 of 2024, dated 31 March 2024 and effective from 1 April 2024, restated the two rules. It made two changes:

• “The date on which the duly verified ITR-V is received at CPC shall be considered” for the 30 days. The test is receipt, not dispatch.
• “Where the return of income is not verified after uploading within the specified time limit … such return shall be treated as invalid.”

The portal’s “How to e-Verify” FAQ still describes the 2022 position, including returns filed on or before 31 July 2022. The 2024 notification is the current text.

What a late verification costs

When verification comes after 30 days, the return is treated as filed on the date of verification. If that date is after the due date under section 139(1), the return is belated, and it attracts the following (each covered in Belated and Revised Returns):

• the late fee under section 234F (₹5,000, or up to ₹1,000 where total income does not exceed five lakh rupees), or under section 428(a) of the 2025 Act;
• interest under section 234A up to the date of verification;
• loss of carry-forward of business and capital losses under section 80;
• loss of Part C Chapter VI-A deductions (80-IA, 80P and others) under section 80AC;
• loss of the option to opt out of the new regime under section 115BAC(6);
• refund interest under section 244A from the date of filing, not from 1 April.

If the verification date falls even later, beyond 31 December 2026 for AY 2026-27, there is no longer a belated return to fall back on. The return is invalid and the year is, in effect, unfiled. What remains is condonation, or an updated return. An updated return cannot claim a refund.

How the Tribunal has read the rule

Tribunal decisions so far have come at the rule from two directions.

Applying the notification’s own terms. In Jasbir Singh Sarao and Sons v. ITO (ITAT Chandigarh, order pronounced 8 December 2025), the assessee uploaded its AY 2023-24 return on 24 July 2023 and opted for the new regime under section 115BAC. The CPC recorded e-verification on 24 August 2023, beyond 30 days, treated the return as filed after the 31 July due date, and denied the regime. The CIT(A) agreed. The assessee produced a postal receipt showing the ITR-V was dispatched on 21 August 2023. The Tribunal applied paragraph 8 of Notification No. 05 of 2022, under which “the date of dispatch of Speed Post of duly verified ITR-V shall be considered”. It held the return filed on 24 July 2023 and directed the CPC to allow the regime. The return predated Notification No. 2 of 2024. For returns uploaded from 1 April 2024, receipt at the CPC, not dispatch, is the test.

Treating verification as procedural. In Vividoddesh Prathamika Grameena Krushi Sahakar Sangha Niyamit v. ITO (ITAT Bangalore, 17 March 2026), a co-operative society uploaded its AY 2022-23 return on 29 September 2022, within the due date, claiming deduction under section 80P. It verified the return on 30 December 2022. The CPC treated the return as filed on the verification date and disallowed the deduction under section 80AC, and the CIT(A) upheld that on Notification No. 05 of 2022. The Tribunal disagreed. It held that verification “is essentially a procedural requirement”, that once cured the return “relates back to the date on which it was originally filed”, and that section 80AC asks only whether the return was furnished by the due date. It followed an earlier Bangalore decision on a 2007 notification, and allowed the deduction.

The second line of reasoning sits uneasily with the notification, which expressly makes the date of verification the date of furnishing. Neither decision considered Notification No. 2 of 2024, and no High Court decision on the 30-day rule has been found. Until the point is settled higher up, the CPC can be expected to apply the notifications as written, leaving the question to appeal.

Condonation of a late verification

The portal allows a condonation request, which is the administrative route for a return verified late or not at all. The portal’s user manual for service requests describes the steps:

1. Log in and select Services > Condonation Request.
2. Choose Delay in submission of ITR-V and click Continue. The manual says this is for a return not e-verified “within 120 / 30 days of filing”.
3. Click Create Condonation Request, select the return, select the reason for delay, and click Submit.
4. A transaction ID is displayed, and confirmation is sent by e-mail and SMS.

The e-verify FAQ adds that the return is treated as verified “only after” the department approves the request. It suggests making the request as soon as the lapse is noticed. Approval is discretionary. The manual gives no timeline.

What to have ready

• The acknowledgement number and date of upload, from the portal’s “View Filed Returns”.
• A working verification route: an Aadhaar-linked mobile number; a bank or demat account pre-validated and EVC-enabled on the portal (“My Bank Account”); net banking; or a DSC registered on the portal (for companies and audit cases, a DSC is required).
• For ITR-V, a printout signed by the person entitled to verify under section 140 or 265, and a postal or courier record.
• A diary date 30 days from upload. Under the 2024 notification, the ITR-V must reach the CPC by that date.

What can and cannot be changed afterwards

Once a return is verified, the verification cannot be withdrawn. The return can be corrected only by a revised return within the revision window, or by an updated return. Where an ITR-V is rejected, the FAQ says the reason appears on the e-filing dashboard and the return can be verified again, by another ITR-V or online. The 30-day limit still runs from upload. A revised return is a fresh return and must itself be verified within 30 days of its own upload.

Summary

1. Know which Act applies. AY 2026-27 and earlier: section 140 of the 1961 Act and the CPR Scheme notifications. Tax year 2026-27 onwards: section 265 of the 2025 Act and rule 164, with the 30-day rule carried over by section 536(2)(j) and (u).
2. Verify at once after upload. Use DSC (required for companies), EVC through Aadhaar OTP, a bank or demat account, an ATM or net banking, or send a signed ITR-V to the CPC, Bengaluru.
3. Make sure verification is completed, or the ITR-V received at the CPC, within 30 days of upload.
4. Expect a verification after 30 days to make the verification date the filing date, with the fee, the interest, and the loss of carry-forward, deductions and old-regime option that follow if that date is after the due date.
5. Expect a return never verified within the limit to be invalid.
6. For a late verification, raise a condonation request under Services > Condonation Request. Where the date of furnishing has been moved, the remaining route is appeal, where Tribunal decisions are divided.

The next guide covers refunds: tracking their status, why they fail, reissue requests, adjustment against old demands under section 245, and interest under section 244A.