A condonation letter format for income tax follows a standard structure under Section 119(2)(b) of the Income Tax Act, 1961: an addressed request to your jurisdictional Commissioner of Income Tax, a specific reason for the missed deadline with exact dates, the financial details of the return (income, tax paid, refund or loss claimed), and supporting documents that prove the hardship was genuine.1Income Tax Department. Filing of ITR After Condonation of Delay – User Manual The current rules come from CBDT Circular No. 11/2024, issued on October 1, 2024.
Sample Letter You Can Adapt
Use this as a working template. Replace the bracketed fields with your own details and keep the structure — officers scan for these specific elements.
From:
[Your Full Name]
[Residential Address, City, State, PIN]
PAN: [Your 10-digit PAN]
Email: [Your Email]
Mobile: [Your Number]
Date: [DD/MM/YYYY]
To,
The Principal Commissioner of Income Tax / Commissioner of Income Tax
[Jurisdictional Office Address]
Subject: Request for Condonation of Delay in Filing Income Tax Return for AY [Year] under Section 119(2)(b) of the Income Tax Act, 1961
Respected Sir/Madam,
I, [Your Full Name], bearing PAN [Your PAN], respectfully request condonation of the delay in filing my Income Tax Return for Assessment Year [XXXX-XX] (Financial Year [XXXX-XX]).
The return was due on [original due date] but could not be filed within the prescribed time due to [specific reason, for example: “a severe illness requiring hospitalization from [date] to [date], as evidenced by the attached medical certificate from [Hospital Name]”]. Upon recovery, I took immediate steps to compute my income and prepare the return.
The relevant financial details are as follows:
- Total Income for the year: ₹[Amount]
- Tax already paid (TDS/Advance Tax/Self-Assessment): ₹[Amount]
- Refund claimed: ₹[Amount] / Loss to be carried forward: ₹[Amount]
I confirm that the income declared is genuine, books of account have been maintained, and no amount is assessable in the hands of any other person. I request your kind consideration in condoning this delay so that my return may be processed.
Enclosures:
- Copy of PAN card
- Computation of income and tax for the relevant year
- Supporting documents (medical certificates, hospital records, error screenshots, etc.)
- Copy of Form 26AS / AIS for the relevant year
Thanking you,
[Your Signature]
[Your Full Name]
[Date]
What Each Part of the Letter Must Do
Officers evaluating a condonation request read for substance, not formatting flourishes. Three elements have to work together: a specific reason for the delay, evidence that the reason is real, and financial figures that match the department’s records.
Be precise about the reason. Circular 11/2024 names fire at the taxpayer’s premises and natural calamities causing loss of documents as examples of genuine hardship, and the recognized grounds run broader: illness, technical failures on the e-filing portal, death of a family member, or reliance on a tax advisor who did not file. Ignorance of the deadline or simply forgetting will not qualify. Officers are required to investigate whether the income or loss you declared is correct and genuine, whether the hardship was real, and whether accounts were manipulated during the delayed period.2Income Tax Department. Instructions to Subordinate Authorities Vague phrasing like “due to personal reasons” invites rejection.
Get the numbers right. Your letter must state total income, tax already paid through TDS, advance tax or self-assessment, and the exact refund or carry-forward loss amount. The investigating officer will cross-check these against your Form 26AS and Annual Information Statement. Any mismatch raises suspicion about the genuineness of the claim.2Income Tax Department. Instructions to Subordinate Authorities
Address the letter correctly. For most individual taxpayers with claims under ₹1 crore for the assessment year, the deciding authority is the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner of Income Tax. Claims of ₹1 crore or more but below ₹3 crore go to the Chief Commissioner, and ₹3 crore or more to the Principal Chief Commissioner.
Supporting Documents to Attach
The evidence has to line up with the reason and the dates you state. Match each supporting document to the type of delay:
- Illness or hospitalization: medical certificates, hospital discharge summaries, or prescriptions dated during the period of the missed deadline.
- Technical failures on the e-filing portal: screenshots of error messages with visible timestamps, or logs of support tickets raised with the portal helpdesk during the relevant period.
- Death or emergency in the family: death certificates, legal notices, or other official records that establish the emergency coincided with the filing period.
- Loss of records due to fire or natural disaster: FIR copies, insurance claims, or municipal authority reports documenting the event.
- Tax advisor’s failure: copies of correspondence showing you provided documents on time and the advisor failed to file.
Convert everything to PDF before uploading. Every date on the supporting evidence should align with the delay period. If your letter says you were hospitalized in September but the medical certificate covers July, the officer will notice. Date precision is the single most overlooked detail in these applications.
Where to Submit the Letter
Most condonation requests are filed on the e-filing portal at eportal.incometax.gov.in. After logging in with your PAN and password, go to Services, click Condonation Request, and choose the type: condonation for late ITR-V verification or condonation for filing a time-barred return. Fill in the assessment year, reason, and financial figures, upload the supporting documents, and submit. The portal generates a transaction ID as confirmation.3Income Tax Department. Raise Service Request User Manual
For larger claims or more complex situations, a physical application to the jurisdictional Principal Commissioner or Commissioner of Income Tax may be needed. Send it by registered post or speed post so you have delivery tracking, and check your assessment details on the e-filing portal to identify the correct office.
The Six-Year Deadline
No condonation application for a refund claim or loss carry-forward can be filed more than six years after the end of the relevant assessment year. Miss that window and the letter cannot be entertained, regardless of how strong the hardship was. For AY 2020-21 (financial year 2019-20), for instance, the last date to file would be March 31, 2027. If a court order caused the delay, the period the case was pending is excluded from the six-year window, provided you apply within six months of the court order.
For late ITR-V verification specifically, returns filed on or after August 1, 2022 must be verified within 30 days of filing; a condonation request is what asks the department to accept a verification submitted after that.3Income Tax Department. Raise Service Request User Manual
After You Submit
Track the status through View Request Status under Services on the e-filing portal. The competent authority is expected to dispose of applications within six months from the end of the month in which they are received, though this is a guideline rather than a guarantee.
The department may issue a notice asking for clarification or additional evidence, usually through the portal and by email. Respond promptly and specifically to what the officer asked for; letting the response window lapse can produce a rejection even when the underlying claim has merit.
If the request is rejected, the order will explain why. Common reasons are insufficient evidence of hardship, financial figures that do not match departmental records, and filing beyond the six-year window. Where the deciding authority found the conditions under the circular were met but did not treat the case as one of genuine hardship, the application is referred to the CBDT for a final decision.2Income Tax Department. Instructions to Subordinate Authorities If the rejection turns on missing documentation, a stronger fresh application is often the better move than a legal challenge.