How to file your Income Tax Returns Online

By
Hemant Beniwal
11

July 31, 2014 is the last day to file your tax returns for the financial year 2013-2014. Have you filed your ITR? Yes, there are ways to file returns post this deadline but it becomes complicated. Don’t fret, you do not have to make rounds of your tax planner or CA or any government offices. You can fill it online either through the income tax portal or other authorised websites. If your taxable income is greater than Rs. 5,00,000, it is anyways mandatory to file returns online.

Before you go online, you need to keep the following documents ready –

  • – Form 16
  • – Bank Statements
  • – TDS Certificates
  • – Last Year’s Tax Returns document
  • – PAN details

There are two ways to file them –

1.Filing through the Income tax portal –

Here are the steps to follow if you file your returns on the income tax department’s website –

  1. Register yourself on the website – https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in by proving information such as name, address, PAN number, birth date, contact details etc.
  2. You should then click on ‘Login’ and log in the portal using your PAN number as the username.
  3. View the Form 26 AS form. It will reflect the total tax paid by you. Verify if the amount is correct. If you need to pay any balance amount, you should pay it. This can be done online as well.You will get a challan for the same.
  4. There are different ITR forms  for individuals and HUFs as per the sources of income- ITR-1, ITR-2, ITR-3 and ITR4 and ITR4S. Choose the one relevant for you and download it and complete the details in it. You will need details from your Form 16 to fill it. This can be saved as an XML file.
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Income tax online

  1. Enter the challan details for the balance tax paid by you
  2. Click on the Validate tab to confirm all information entered
  3. There are two alternate steps now –

A. If you included your digital signature, you can upload the XML file by clicking on the submit button. You will get an acknowledgement which should be printed/saved. This indicates successful ITR filing. It is to be noted that a registered Digital Signature only can be used to file returns.

B. If you do not have a digital signature, print the ITR-V form, sign it and send it to the  following address by Speed Post or Ordinary Post within 120 days of submitting returns.

          ‘Income Tax Department – CPC, Post Bag No – 1,

          Electronic City Post Office, Bengaluru – 560100, Karnataka’

 The tax department will send an acknowledgement on successful receipt of your ITR-V  form which indicates successful ITR filing.

You should try to file your returns on the income tax website first.

2) Filing income tax return through private portals –

If you find the process of filing returns on the income tax website cumbersome or difficult, there are many websites that offer you service to file your ITR online for a fee. Some of these portals are Taxsmile and ClearTax. There are mobile applications too for filing ITR online.

These portals offer different services

  • – File Returns on your own
  • – The website assists you to file the returns
  • – ITR-V submission
  • – Tracking tax credits and refunds

It is important to check the track record and reputation of the private portal if you are filing your returns through them as you are sharing a lot of private data.

Let us know how you filed your returns and your experience and feedback on the income tax portal or private portals that you used.

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11 COMMENTS

  1. hi hemant.

    yesterday, while filing the returns this time, i did not find any place to fill my non taxable allowances like TA..what should I do? should I fill the total; income minus this allowance..

    Dr Nitin

  2. You can download the Java utility from the IT efilling website. Open the tool and enter your login details. It will automatically fill up your personal details, advance tax paid, bank details if available from the last year.

  3. Hi Hemant, thanks for the information. I have a question in mind. Being law abide citizens(which most of us are) , we all want to pay our taxes. But the problem is we don’t know which tax should be paid by us, and that include all kind of taxes like income tax, wealth tax, property tax, capital gain tax, gift deed tax etc. Where should be get information regarding these taxes? Who can guide us to pay our taxes in all these categories? Does it fall under the category of financial planner? I hope you got my point. Anyways, I have just now ordered your book ‘financial life planning’ online. Must tell you that i came across your blog for first time today, read just 3 articles and then move on to order your book. Hope my investment is not wasted 😛 , since i did not do good research as suggest by the investment gurus 🙂 . Jokes apart, I laud your effort in writing your blog since that shows you are really interested in financial literacy of the people rather than just your financial gain. Hope I learn from you and come up with my own blog some day.
    Best regards,
    Gurpreet Singh
    New Delhi, India

  4. Hi Hemant,

    Is surrender value of New Jeevan Dhara – I / New Jeevan Suraksha Plan – I( with Profit ) taxable ? In case of cumulative FD accrued interest should be considered for Taxation or cumulative interest in the year of maturity ? which is the right way ?

  6. Hi, I submitted the online ITR form with the tax payable amount and filled that tax later from the online portal using challan 280. Later i checked from this post that I needed enter the challan details in the ITR form itself. What should be done now.

  7. Forgot to mention, I haven’t sent the ITR V to IT office. Can I write the challan details manually in the appropriate section on the ITR V form and send to the IT office. Please guide.

    Thanks and Regards,
    Manav

  9. Hi Hemant,

    I have filled my tax return wrongly, due to it I received the notification from IT department saying demand outstanding, How to clarify the IT department that this outstanding is because of wrong input I have given.
    The mistake I did is under section “Income from salary”, I quoted my total salary (Including HRA) instead of taxable salary. which lead to demand outstanding with IT department.

    what to do, Please give advise.
    I am holding PAN registered in Hyderabad and I am currently staying in Bangalore.

  10. Hi Hemant,
    My bad i haven’t filed TAX returns for long

    Can i File IT Returns (i.e. E-File) for

    2012-2013
    2013-2014
    2014-2015

    Or
    can I file only for 2014-2015 year

    Please suggest Thanks

    • Zuber,

      You can file returns only upto two financial years i..e for 2014-2015 you can file upto 31st March 2016. After the assesment year you are charged a penalty of Rs 5000 for late filing. You can file this year for 2013-2014 with penalty of Rs 5000. But you may not be able to file for 2012-2013.

      Still you can check with a tax expert.

Comments are closed.