www.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in E-filing of Income Tax returns: It's so simple Income Tax E-filing Steps Easy

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NEW: Digital Signature Certificate made mandatory w.e.f 1st July 2011 for Firms and Individuals whose accounts are required to be audited u/s 44 AB of the Income Tax Act' 1961. Click here to download notification no. S.O. 1497(E) dtd 1st July 2011 in this regard. The users belonging to above mentioned categories who have already registered their digital-signatures may continue to file this year's return also with same DSC. However, the users who are applying for new digital-signatures for registration and subsequent e-filing of returns are advised to apply for DSC-with-encrypted-PAN only. Check your tax credits in 26AS statement before filing IT return for faster processing and quick refunds. Taxpayers are advised to verify the tax credits available in 26AS statement before filing the Income Tax Return. It will facilitate faster processing and quick refunds. In order to avoid the TDS mismatch i.e if your claim of TDS is higher than the tax credits available in 26AS statement, please contact the Deductor for filing of the correction TDS statement.
NEW:e-Filing for AY 2011-12 has been started (ITR-1(SAHAJ), ITR-2, ITR-3, ITR-4, ITR-4S(SUGAM), ITR-5 and ITR-6 are now enabled).
NEW:The Centralized Processing Center of the Income Tax Department at Bangalore, which was established to mass-process Income Tax Returns has bagged the Gold Award in the category "Excellence in Government Process Re-engineering" at the 14th National e-Governance Conference held at Aurangabad, Maharashtra on 10th February, 2011. Click here to download photos.
NEW: Centralized Processing Center (CPC), Bangalore has been actively processing of returns for AY 2010-11. As on 15/07/2011 it has processed over 68.6 lakh e-filed returns of AY 2010-11 in all categories of ITRs including Corporate Returns and generated refunds in over 25.5 lakh cases. Besides refunds were reprocessed for 17,539 AY 2010-11 cases and 52,887 cases pertaining to AY2009-10. We are also pleased to announce that CPC has also commenced processing of AY11-12 returns. The Income Tax Department has now extended the last date for sending ITR Vs for AY 2010-11 to 31st July, 2011 or 120 days whichever is later (See CBDT order). All taxpayers are requested to send their ITR-V quickly and benefit from faster processing and issue of refunds. Marking the advent of Income Tax department in digital era, all intimation orders are being sent by e-mail to taxpayers as a digitally signed password protected PDF document. SMS alerts (where mobile number is provided) to taxpayers on completion of processing and determination of refunds has been introduced for ITRs of AY 2010-11.
NEW: Update on CPC - Call Center To assist taxpayers a call center with 20 agents provides customer service and support for resolution of taxpayers queries. It provides information and updates on the following: Status of receipt of ITR-V at CPC Processing status of e-filed returns Refund issues Any other information related to processing of returns at CPC This service is available on working days and call are answered in English,Hindi,Kannada on the following telephone numbers ; Toll free: 1800-425-2229 Direct: 080-22546500 Based on taxpayer’s feedback and increasing demand for customer services, the working hours of CPC Call center are being extended to 9AM-8PM on all working days. Taxpayers can also access the above information at the e-filing website.
NEW: Department introduces new facility for online submission of rectification request in cases where processing was completed by CPC Bangalore. Please review the guide for common errors to first rectify the return submitted and generate the rectification xml using excel utility (same utility is to be used). Taxpayer can log in My Account-> Rectification-> Rectification upload and follow instructions to upload the rectification xml file. The rectification request will be processed at CPC and if found acceptable, then a rectification order u/s154 will be issued. Please see manual for submission of rectification request. Please note that this facility is only for E-returns processed at CPC.
NEW: Income Tax Department is releasing 3 new services on the e-filing websoite. These are available from the 'Services' menu on the Menu Bar on top. The services are available without requiring any login (and are also available under 'My Account' as well) are: ITR-V receipt status at CPC Bangalore. Refund failure status out of refunds issued or to be issued at CPC Bangalore Processing status of e-Returns from CPC Bangalore

Dos and Dont's for printing and submitting of ITR-Vs to

ITD-CPC Bangalore

Please use Ink Jet /Laser printer to print the ITR-V Form. Avoid printing on Dot Matrix printer. The ITR-V Form should be printed only in black ink. Do not use any other ink option to print ITR V. Ensure that print out is clear and not light print/faded copy. Please do not print any water marks on ITR-V. The only permissible watermark is that of "Income tax Department" which is printed automatically on each ITR-V. The document that is mailed to CPC should be signed in original in BLUE INK. Photocopy of signatures will not be accepted. The signatures or any handwritten text should not be written on Bar code. Bar code and numbers below barcode should be clearly visible. Only A4 size white paper should be used. Avoid typing anything at the back of the paper. Perforated paper or any other size paper should be avoided. Do not use stapler on ITR V acknowledgement. In case you are submitting original and revised returns, do not print them back to back. Use two separate papers for printing ITR-Vs separately. More than one ITR-V can be sent in the same envelope. Please do not submit any annexures, covering letter, pre stamped envelopes etc. along with ITR-V. The ITR-V form is required to be sent to Post Bag No.1, Electronic City Post Office, Bengaluru, Karnataka-560100, by ordinary post or speedpost. ITR-Vs that do not conform to the above specifications may get rejected or acknowledgement of receipt may get delayed.

Income Tax E-filing Steps

(1) What is E-Filing? The process of electronically filing Income tax returns through the internet is known as e-filing. It is mandatory for companies and Firms requiring statutory audit u/s 44AB to submit the Income tax returns electronically for AY 2007-08 onwards. E-filing is possible with or without digital signature.

(2) Types of E-Filing There are three ways to file returns electronically. Option 1: Use digital signature, in which case no further action is required. Option 2: File without digital signature, in which case the duly signed ITR-V form is to be submitted to CPC Bengaluru using Ordinary Post or Speed Post within 120 days of transmitting the data electronically. This completes the Return filing process for non-digitally signed returns. Option 3: File through an e-return intermediary who would do eFiling and also assist the Assessee file the ITR -V Form.

(3) Types of E-Filing

(4) E – filing process : This is explained below with the help of a flow chart.

(5) Change in the procedure of e- filing for 2008-09 Type Change For digitally signed returns No Change Paper Returns -Two step Procedure After uploading data -instead of filing paper return assessee to file verification form called ITR-V (Combination of Acknowledgement of e-return and verification Paper Returns - through e-intermediaries

(6) e-Filing Process – At a glance Select appropriate type of Return Form . Download Return Preparation Software for selected Return Form. Fill your return offline and generate a XML file. Register and create a user id/password . Login and click on relevant form on left panel and select "Submit Return". Browse to select XML file and click on "Upload" button . On successful upload acknowledgement details would be displayed. Click on "Print" to generate printout of acknowledgement/ITR-V Form. Incase the return is digitally signed , on generation of "Acknowledgement" the Return Filing process gets completed. Assessee may take a printout of the Acknowledgement for his record. Incase the return is not digitally signed , on successful uploading of e-Return, the ITR-V Form would be generated which needs to be printed by the tax payers. This is an acknowledgement cum verification form. The tax payer has to fill-up the verification part and verify the same. A duly verified ITR-V form should be submitted to CPC Benagaluru using Ordinary Post or Speed Post within 120 days of transmitting the data electronically. This completes the Return filing process for non-digitally signed Returns.

E-filing of Income Tax returns: It's so simple

BANGALORE: You have just three more days to file your income-tax returns. If you want to do it without much bother, you should consider e-filing. It's simple if you take care of a few things.

You need to go to the website incometaxindiae-filing.gov.in and download the relevant returns form (ITR 1 to 7) based on your sources of income. For instance, if your only sources of income are salary/pension, interest income and income/loss from one house property, then you can use ITR 1. The website explains who should use which.

Select the Excel version of the form. Very importantly, enable Macros in the form. People often fail to do that because the 'Enable Macros' messaging is not very clear on the website/form. A help file that gets downloaded with the Excel form explains how to enable Macros. If Macros are not enabled, many of the required fields in the form do not perform their required functions.

Read the other instructions on the website and fill up all the mandatory fields in all the forms. Particularly ensure that you have written your PAN number correctly. Pressing the `Calculate Tax' button on the form tells you how much tax you need to pay or how much you need to be refunded (you don't need to know anything about tax rates).

If you have taxes to pay, then these can be paid online through the incometaxindia.gov.in website. Once that's done, details of the counterfoil of the tax paid challan must be entered in the Excel form that you downloaded.

Pressing the `Validate' button on top of each form tells you whether you have filled up the forms correctly. Once validated, press the `Generate XML' button on the top right of the form, and an XML version of the form gets created on your PC.

Now go once again to the e-filing website, and choose the assessment year for which you are filing (it will be AY 11-12, if you are filing for financial year 2010-11). You will be asked to register yourself, which again is a simple process. Once registered, use your login and password to login again, you will be asked to upload the XML file. The moment you upload and send it, you will have access to an ITR-V form, which is the acknowledgement form. You need to take a print out of this on a laser printer (so that the barcode on it is printed properly), you need to sign it and then send it to the Centralized Processing Center (address provided on website) by ordinary post within 120 days.

"e-filing is one of the best things to have happened," says Sunil Birla, partner in chartered accountancy firm BDO India. "You can do everything from home. No running around to income tax offices. It's possible to complete the entire process in 10-12 minutes. In our firm, what took 15 people to do now takes just 3 people."

If you file online, tax refunds will also happen much faster (within three months) than if you file paper returns. But for refunds, ensure that you fill up your address, email id and bank account details accurately. As per data provided by the Centralized Processing Center that is managed jointly by the I-T department and Infosys Technologies, more than 4.28 lakh refunds for assessment years 2009-10 and 2010-11 have not happened because of wrong address or bank account details.