Salaried individuals would have started getting the Form 16 from their employers. The next step is to file your income tax return (ITR), which is mandatory if one has annual income exceeding the minimum exempted limit. Also, even if no taxes are due as with salaried individuals where TDS gets deducted each month, the filing of ITR is still compulsory.
Offline and E-filing: Mandatory for whom
Filing of ITR can be done either offline or online i.e. through e-filing, a process of electronically filing Income tax returns through the internet. But for some taxpayers choosing between the two is not a choice anymore.
Online filing has been made compulsory for certain section of the taxpayers. It is compulsory in certain cases such as where:
(a) Total income exceeds Rs 5 lakh or any refund is claimed (other than Super Senior Citizen furnishing ITR1 or ITR2),
(b) Where accounts are required to be audited under section 44AB and
(c) The return is furnished in ITR-3 or in ITR-4.
Only these persons can file their ITR offline:
(a) Individual who are of the age 80 years or more at any time during the financial year
(b) Individual whose income is less than Rs 5 lakh per year and who do not have to claim a refund in the return.
In addition to the e-filing option available at the Income Tax department's website, there are certain e-return intermediaries (ERI), which are private entities, registered by the Income Tax department to enable e-filing process through their websites. The complete list of registered ERI's can be seen
here.
E-filing on private websites vs Income Tax department's platform
On the Income Tax department's platform, https://incometaxindiaefiling.
In the case of the IT department's website, the selection of the IT Form based on the income sources has to be done by the taxpayer. Most private intermediaries, on the other hand, provide e-filing services merely by uploading of Form-16. Some have has created a Form 16 parser (a software program) where the user has to just upload Form 16 and all the data from the PDF is auto populated at appropriate places on the software. After this, the user has to just double check the data, enter any other income received, pay taxes and file return. This helps, especially in the case of individuals with only salary income and additionally having a home loan where interest is being serviced.
Most private intermediaries provide assistance and also have enabled technological support to help upload IT returns of those who are unable to upload on their own. Our portal doesn't ask for ITR form type (ITR-1, ITR-4, etc.), it is decided by the system as per data entered by the user. Also, on the IT department's website, one needs to be aware of the information related to taxation. "We have an interview based e-filing, you answer simple questions and we file your return. Compared to IT Department and other websites where you need to know what information to fill and in which fields" says Yadav.
On the IT department's platform, the ITR forms are available in two alternative software formats – Excel and Java. Also, some excel functions have to be enabled before filing up the ITR form in excel format because validation and other buttons of the excel file will work only if 'Macros' and 'ActiveX' function of the Excel workbook is enabled. The ERI websites, on the other hand, takes care of these concerns. Their platforms are easier to use and hence comes at a price. An easy-to-understand cloud-based user interface, which eliminates the need to download any software
Stepwise process for e-filing ITR (Form 16 Upload)
Step 1: Register on any ERI website
Step 2: Enter your personal details
Step 3: Upload Form 16 ( PDF format)
Step 4: Add details of taxes paid, if any*
Step 5: Review
Step 6: E-file your return
Step 7: Receive ITR-V (acknowledgement) from Income-tax Department on your e-mail.
Step 8: E-Verify **
* Tax if due can be paid online through net banking
** On the income tax website or through net banking
Watch outs
One has to tread with caution while using the websites of the private intermediaries. Many of them, backed by investor community could be in purely for a profit. They could use the personal information to contact you later for selling financial products such as mutual funds or insurance. There are investors with cash in hand and trying to acquire a maximum number of taxpayers and planning to charge them later or by providing different service like a mutual fund, insurance etc as they have the objective of making their investment double or triple in 3-5 years.
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