How Do I File a Time-Barred ITR After Condonation of Delay Under Section 119(2)(b)?

You have a genuine refund sitting with the exchequer, but the calendar has closed every ordinary door. The original due date under section 139(1) is gone, the belated and revised window under section 139(4) and 139(5) shut on 31 December of the assessment year, and even the updated-return route under section 139(8A) does not help because an ITR-U cannot be filed to claim or increase a refund. Section 119(2)(b) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 is the last legitimate route, and this guide walks through exactly how the condonation order translates into a filed return on the portal.

The Scenario

Consider a salaried reader whose employer deducted tax at source for the financial year, but who never filed the return because the refund seemed small and the deadline slipped past. Two years later a Form 26AS reconciliation shows excess TDS that was never claimed. The belated-return window under section 139(4) closed on 31 December of that assessment year, and section 139(8A) permits an updated return only where additional tax is payable, never to generate a tax refund. On paper the money looks lost.

It is not. Section 119(2)(b) empowers the Central Board of Direct Taxes to authorise income-tax authorities to admit an application or claim for a refund or other relief after the statutory period has expired, specifically to avoid "genuine hardship". CBDT Circular No. 11/2024 dated 1 October 2024 is the operative instruction, and it caps the outer time limit at five years from the end of the relevant assessment year. Miss that five-year mark and even the condonation route is barred, so the reader in this scenario must act well before the AY-plus-five deadline.

Statutory Answer

Section 119(2)(b) does not itself file your return. It authorises a designated officer to condone the delay so that a return claiming a refund or carry-forward of loss can be accepted despite being time-barred. The condonation is a discretionary administrative order, and only after it is passed can the return be uploaded. CBDT Circular No. 11/2024, which superseded the earlier Circular No. 9/2015 dated 9 June 2015, fixes both who decides and how long you have.

The circular sets a five-year outer limit measured from the end of the assessment year, and it distributes the decision across three tiers of officer by the amount of the claim. The disposal target is six months from the end of the month in which the application is received, as far as possible.

Two conditions travel with every condonation of a refund claim. First, the refund must arise from tax already collected, that is excess TDS, TCS, advance tax or self-assessment tax; condonation cannot manufacture a fresh deduction. Second, no interest is payable under section 244A on a belated refund claim admitted under section 119(2)(b), so the five-year window costs you the interest even when the principal refund is honoured. The full text of section 119 is on indiacode.nic.in for readers who want the primary source.

Filing on the Portal After Approval

Once the Principal Commissioner passes the condonation order, it carries a Document Identification Number (DIN). That DIN is the key that unlocks the return, and the return cannot be filed online in the normal browser flow. According to the e-filing portal user manual on incometax.gov.in (updated for AY 2025-26), the sequence is precise.

1. Log in to the e-filing portal and confirm the condonation approval is complete before doing anything else; filing before the order is passed will be rejected.
2. Go to e-File then Income Tax Returns, and select the relevant assessment year, for example AY 2023-24 if the delayed return relates to FY 2022-23.
3. Choose the filing type exactly as the dropdown reads: "u/s 139(9A)- After Condonation of delay u/s 119(2)(b)".
4. Download the offline utility for the correct ITR form, because online preparation is unavailable for this filing type.
5. In the Filing Information section of the utility, enter the Unique Number / DIN and the date of the condonation order exactly as printed.
6. Generate the JSON, upload it to the portal, and complete e-verification within 30 days of upload.

The single most common failure is skipping step 5: a return uploaded without the condonation order DIN in the Filing Information sheet is treated as an ordinary time-barred return and gets rejected. Because the whole exercise turns on a refund, run the numbers through the income tax calculator before you file so the refund you claim matches what the slabs actually produce.

Worked Resolution

Take a concrete example using the FY 2025-26 slabs, applying the new regime that is the default under section 115BAC. Assume Ananya, a salaried employee, has a gross salary of Rs 14,00,000 and Rs 95,000 was deducted as TDS across the year, but she never filed and now files after condonation. The standard deduction in the new regime is Rs 75,000, giving taxable income of Rs 13,25,000.

The slab tax of Rs 78,750 breaks down as nil on the first Rs 4,00,000, 5 per cent on the Rs 4,00,000 from Rs 4L to Rs 8L (Rs 20,000), 10 per cent on the Rs 4,00,000 from Rs 8L to Rs 12L (Rs 40,000), and 15 per cent on the Rs 1,25,000 from Rs 12L to Rs 13.25L (Rs 18,750). Because Ananya's income exceeds Rs 12,00,000, the section 87A rebate of up to Rs 60,000 available in the new regime does not apply, so the full Rs 78,750 stands before cess.

The refund of Rs 13,100 is precisely the amount she can claim under section 119(2)(b), and not a rupee more, because the refund is limited to tax already collected. Had she been comparing regimes, the old vs new regime calculator would show whether old-regime deductions produced a larger refund for the year in question, but the regime is locked to whatever she was eligible to choose for that assessment year. Note too that she loses the section 244A interest that a timely filer would have earned on the Rs 13,100 from 1 April of the assessment year. To sanity-check the Rs 95,000 TDS figure against the actual credits in Form 26AS, the TDS calculator is the quickest cross-reference.

If her claim had instead been a carry-forward of a capital loss, the same five-year limit and the same three-tier authority table would apply, but the "genuine hardship" test is read more strictly for loss carry-forward than for a straightforward excess-TDS refund.

FAQ

What is the deadline to file a condonation application under section 119(2)(b)?

CBDT Circular No. 11/2024 dated 1 October 2024 sets an outer limit of five years from the end of the relevant assessment year. For FY 2020-21 (AY 2021-22), that window runs until 31 March 2027. Applications beyond five years will not be entertained, so a refund for a very old year may already be permanently barred.

Can I file an updated return (ITR-U) instead of using condonation?

No. Section 139(8A) allows an updated return only where it results in additional tax payable to the government. An ITR-U cannot be filed to claim a refund, to increase a refund, or to report a loss, so a refund claim for a time-barred year must go through section 119(2)(b).

Who approves my condonation request?

Under Circular 11/2024 the deciding officer depends on the claim size: the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner for claims up to Rs 1 crore, the Chief Commissioner for claims above Rs 1 crore up to Rs 3 crore, and the Principal Chief Commissioner for claims above Rs 3 crore. The order should ordinarily be passed within six months from the end of the month the application is received.

Do I get interest on a refund allowed after condonation?

No. Section 244A interest is not payable on a belated refund claim admitted under section 119(2)(b). If the computed refund is Rs 13,100, that is the exact amount credited, with no interest for the years the money sat with the department.

Why can I not file this return online in the browser?

For the "u/s 139(9A)- After Condonation of delay u/s 119(2)(b)" filing type the incometax.gov.in portal requires you to prepare the return in the offline utility, enter the condonation order DIN in the Filing Information section, generate the JSON, and upload it. Online in-browser preparation is not offered for this filing type.

What if my condonation application is rejected?

A rejection order under section 119(2)(b) is an administrative order and can be challenged by a writ petition before the jurisdictional High Court under Article 226, since no ordinary appeal lies against it. Courts have repeatedly read "genuine hardship" liberally where the refund is genuine and the delay is explained, so a well-documented rejection is worth contesting within the limitation for a writ.

Does condonation change which tax regime applies to the old year?

No. The regime and the slab rates are those that were in force for the relevant assessment year; condonation only relaxes the filing deadline, not the substantive law. Use the income tax calculator with the correct year's parameters to compute the refund for that specific assessment year.