Have you claimed a tax deduction under a wrong section? Here's what you can do

The Income Tax Act ('the Act') has allowed various deductions (for example, Tax-saving investments u/s 80C, Mediclaim u/s 80D, claim for house rent paid u/s 10, etc) which a taxpayer can claim from their taxable income.

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While these deductions are available to every taxpayer , a critical prerequisite attached to all these deductions are the taxpayer has to claim these deductions in their return of income. But if a taxpayer, while making a claim for a deduction refers to a wrong section for the same; can the taxman deny the benefit of this deduction to the taxpayer?

For instance, a taxpayer filed its return of income within the due date and declared his total income at Rs 1.11 crores. During the course of assessment, the taxman examined the income tax return filed and observed that during the year the taxpayer has sold various residential as well as commercial properties and earned capital gains on the same.

The tax officer observed that the taxpayer had offered net long-term capital gains (LTCG) of Rs.3.37 crores on the sale of a residential house after claiming deduction under section 54F of the Act. After calling for further details in regard to the properties of the taxpayer, the tax officer observed that the taxpayer had investment in more than one residential house as on the date of investment.