From assessment year 2013-14, E-filing has been made compulsory for the person who is an individual or a Hindu undivided family (HUF), if his or its total income, or the total income in respect of which he is or it is assessable under the act during the previous year, exceeds Rs. 5 lakh rupees for the assessment year 2013-14 onwards. It clearly states total income and not taxable income.
Please read below to know how you can file income tax return online yourself.
You can calculate your income tax payable using the income tax calculator provided at this page: Income tax calculator. Income tax return excel utility also computes income tax, but they only take taxable income as input.
Also make sure that you also see whether the advance tax has been paid on time (See row 101-104 in tax calculator). In case you have paid the full tax but not paid on time as per the advance tax schedule, you are liable to pay interest under section 234 C. Income tax return excel utility also computes interest penalty u/s 234C.
Whatever pending amount you need to pay can be paid online on this link: Pay Taxes Online (Use only Internet explorer for this).
Select challan type as CHALLAN NO. /ITNS 280 and continue.
Select (0021) INCOME-TAX (OTHER THAN COMPANIES) in tax applicable field and
Select (300) SELF ASSESSMENT TAX in type of payment.
Select bank through which you want to pay.
Make sure to add interest penalty as computed by income tax return excel form u/s 234A, 234B and 234C in case of tax payments after due date.
You also pay through your net banking login on Axis Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce, State Bank of Patiala, Bank of Baroda, IDBI Bank, State Bank of Mysore, Bank of Maharashtra, State Bank of Hyderabad, State Bank of Saurashtra, Union Bank of India, Allahabad Bank, Dena Bank, Syndicate Bank, ICICI Bank, State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, Canara Bank, Indian Bank, Bank of India, Corporation Bank, State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur, State Bank of Travancore, State Bank of Indore, Vijaya Bank and HDFC Bank.
You can check online if your money has actually reached the I-T Department. For this you have to go to Tax Information Network Website and click the box CIN Based View. Provide details as per the receipt generated while online tax payment.
Fill Income tax return form
Download respective income tax form from income tax website. Income tax department has modified the return preparation software to include automatic calculation of tax and interest.
Income from Salary/Pension, interest and single house property ( but with exempt income is less than Rs. 5,000) : ITR-1
Income from more than one house property, capital gains, salaries, pension, interest and exempt income more than Rs 5,000: ITR-2
Income from partnership in a firm: ITR-3
Income from business/profession: ITR-4
Income from Presumptive Business: ITR-4S
Exempt income here includes transport/conveyance allowance, HRA exemption, agricultural income, insurance maturity amount, LTA, Gratuity, Interest on PPF balance, Leave Encashment, Income from Mutual Funds, Dividends and long term capital gains.
Fill up the form with information provided in Form-16 and the tax calculated in income tax calculator above in Step 1.
If you don’t know Assessing Officer (Ward / Circle), Find it here by submitting your PAN.
After filling up the form, Generate tax return XML from the income tax form by clicking Generate button on first sheet of excels form.
After you have created a XML file from income tax return excel form, Go to Income Tax e-Filing Website.
Create your login on this page on website. It’s not mandatory, to use a digital signature for electronically filing the return.
a) Filing return without digital signature:
Login to income tax site and click on assessment year under submit return menu on left side of page.
Upload the generated XML on this page for 2012-13 assessment year.
On successful upload acknowledgment details would be displayed.
Take printout of acknowledgment/ITR-V Form. You may also download it later. Login and go to link on top right My account > My Returns.
Form ITR-V has to be submitted with the Income tax Department as verification of the electronic filing of the return within 120 days after the date of e-Filing.
Form ITR-V is bar-coded, so it need not to be folded and to be mailed in a A4 size envelope BY ORDINARY or SPEED POST ONLY to “Income Tax Department – CPC, Post Box No – 1, Electronic City Post Office, Bengaluru – 560100, Karnataka” within 120 days after the date of e-filing of return. ITR-V sent by Registered Post or Courier will not be accepted. No Form ITR-V shall be received in any other office of the Income-tax Department or in any other manner. Please keep a copy of the same with you also. After some day of posting the ITR-V, you can check status of receipt by going into account ‘My Account’ -> ‘E-filing Process Status’.
From year 2012-13, even if a person does not have digital signature, he can file online and even does not need to send ITR-V copy to Bangalore CPC (Central processing centre) address.
An electronic signature would be generated online in income tax efiling website after providing certain information from previous year’s income tax return. On validation of such information, unique PIN would be provided to person on email/SMS. This PIN can be used to file income tax return online without needing digital signature. This will also make sure no further hard copy needs to be sent to department.
b) Filing return with digital signature:
In case you don’t have digital signature and you want to buy that, you can buy class 2 or class 3. You can buy digital signature on e-Mudhra website . Class 2 individual certificate is available for Rs. 285 for 1 year validity.
In case return is filed with digital signature, user may take a printout of the Acknowledgment for his record. The tax-payer is not required to submit the Form ITR-V with the Income-tax Department.
To assist taxpayers, a limited call center service has been established at ITD-CPC, Bangalore. Taxpayer queries on status of ITR-V receipt at CPC, Bangalore will be answered on 080-43456700 between 9:30 AM to 6 PM. The service will be available in English, Hindi and Kannada.
One may also call on 1800-425-2229 (Toll free) or 080-43456700 for status of receipt of ITR-V at CPC, Processing status of e-filed returns, Refund issues and any other information related to processing of returns at CPC. The working hours of CPC Call center have been extended to 9AM-8PM on all working days.
I hope this article will help many of us and make tax filing Simple & Easy. So please this year Do-It-Yourself.
Feel free to comment/suggest anything that I may have missed.
Note : No hard copy of any kind of proof needs to be submitted along with Income tax return.
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View Comments
What happens if the ITR is not filed when salary is within permissible limits,S/T Capital gain & speculative gains are negetive ( in Loss)? Will there be any penalty?
@Mahesh
Return filing is not mandatory if taxable income before any deduction (like 80C etc) is less than non-taxable slab (1.8 lakh for men below 60 years).
Also, A salaried employee is not required to file Income Tax Return for A.Y. 2012-13 provided all the following conditions are met:-
1. He has earned only salary income and income from Saving Bank Account and the annual interest earned from saving bank account is less than Rs. 10,000.
2. His total income does not exceed Rs.5 lacs (Total Income means Gross Total Income less Deductions under Chapter VIA).
3. He has reported his PAN and interest on saving bank account to his employer.
4. He has received Form-16 from his employer and his tax deducted has been deposited with Central Government.
5. He has received salary only from one employer and has no refund claim.
6. He has not received any notice from IncomeTax Department for filing of Income Tax Return.
There won't be any penalty if you fit into above cases.
If you want to carry forward your losses, you will have to file income tax return.
I was working in India till 13th April 2011. Since then I have been working in overseas. I have got form 16 from my previous employer where it is mentioned that tax on total income is "0". Should I file return for 0 tax paid? Please advise.
@Deb
Your query has already been answered on: http://www.socialfinance.in/questions/3447/should-i-file-return-for-0-tax-paid
Hi Pankaj, I have a home loan running since 2009. I got the possession in Mar 2012. Now i wanna avail the tax benefit under 24(B). I know i would need to file ITR2 showing interest as a loss in schedule HP for current year. But how can i avail the benefit for last two year. For last two year, i had filled ITR1 without showing any loss.
I believe i should have filled ITR2 for those years as well and have shown the losses to get them carried forward to this year.
Is there any workaround of this issue as the amount is quite high? Should i file revised return for last two years as well?
@Rohit
You can even file ITR-1 with losses from only one house property as interest payment.
You can claim deductions for home loan interest paid before possession year now too. Whole interest paid before possession year can be claimed in five equal installments starting from possession year.
Say, if you had paid total interest of Rs 2 lakh in FY 2009-10 and 2010-11, it can be now claimed with amount Rs 40,000 per year starting from FY 2011-12. e.g. interest paid for FY 11-12 is 1.0 lakh, then total deduction can be taken for Rs 1.4 lakh.
But total deduction for a year can't exceed Rs 1.5 lakh for self occupied house.
Hi Pankaj,
Can we claim tax exemption for the compensation amount received from company? My previous company had given compensation but the same is shown under salary in form 16. But i do have a final settlement statement from the company where this is shown separately. TDS is already taken at highest rate by the company.
Please let me know if i could claim exemption.
@Ron
What kind of compensation amount it is?
Generally compensation would also be treated as income and taxed as per normal slab rates.
Hi Pankaj,
Amount is the severance pay which company had paid to me during layoff due to a site closure. In the final settlement, its shown as severance pay. I was reading somewhere that there is clause to claim tax exemption for the same. But still not clear.
thanks
@Ron
I don't think there is any clause for deduction of such payment from taxable income.
Hello Pankaj,
Is form 16 required for ITR filling. According to your excel sheet (Income Tax Calculator for Financial Year 2011-2012) i came to know my tax but when i discussed with Advocate about ITR he is reffering only form 16 and calculated which is 12000 more than my calculation using this excel file. Here i am using my payslips and form 26 for filling this excel. i think i have to use salary slips bcos using salary slips i can have full details about my deduction like PF, TDS, Medical, Telephone, LTA etc.
Please guide me how can i fill whether i use only form 16 or by using salary slips i can fill ITR.
thanks
Sunil
@Sunil
You should file ITR based on actual amounts. Form-16 is just a proof for tax deduction and cannot be used for income tax computation.
Employer may not have done correct computation and may not have considered all exemptions/deductions, which you are eligible for.
do NRI have to file in same forms or is their a seperate form for them
@Skbhan
NRIs too have the same income tax return forms.
Where should one enter interest income earned on deposits in a foreign bank account? Details of deposits/assets should be provided in Schedule FA, but what about interest earned on these deposits for someone who is filing as a resident?
@Rivka
Interest can be declared under head 'income from other sources'.
Can one file returns for FY 2011-12 online after 31 July 2012?
@Pradeep
Yes, one can file income tax return after 31st July 2012 too. But this won't be beneficial in case any tax is payable or refund is expected.
Does it matter if the PAN office address does not match the address you are providing in the return? In my PAN I have registered the office address of my father, where I can still receive my correspondence. However, I am going to provide a new residential address in my returns.
@Rohit
It does not really matter. All correspondence with regards to current ITR would be done at the address mentioned in ITR.
Which field is to be used for HRA? How does one compute HRA on which one can claim deduction?
@Rohit
HRA deduction should be claimed with employer, Income tax return form does not have any provision to claim for same.