How to File Your Income Tax Return Online

7/30/2019 How to File Your Income Tax Return Online

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Guide: How to File Your Income Tax Return OnlineA step-by-step guide to help you sort out your I-T worries

The collapse of the northern power grid last week, just as the deadline to file income tax returns was about to expire,prevented many taxpayers from submitting their returns on time. The government has therefore provided respite byextending the deadline to the 31st of August for individuals and HUFs (Hindu Undivided Family). This news is probablymusic to the ears of perennial procrastinators, who have for some reason or other avoided filing their returns thus far.

While many of you might think that it is better to let a professional handle the task, filing your I-T returns isn't hard atall. Last year, we had published a step-by-step guide to the process, which was well-received by readers. The process has

hardly changed since then, but even so, this guide will show you exactly what you need to do to file your I-T returnsonline and save your CA's (Chartered Accountant) or Tax Return Preparer's fees. Best of all, you can do everything fromthe comfort of your home!

Note: This guide applies only to Form ITR-1 that is, salaried individuals with no other sources of income, except forinterest income and rental income from one property. If you own more than one property, or if you've sold a propertybetween Apr 2011- Mar 2012, as well as professionals (doctors, consultants, etc) are better off hiring a CA to get the jobdone.

The first thing you need to do is obtain your Form 16. Your employer provides this if you don't have it, you can requestyour HR department for one. This form is a statement of your taxable salary, allowed deductions, and the tax that hasbeen paid on your behalf. Also, banks and other financial institutions that charge you TDS (Tax Deducted at Source) onthe interest due to you are supposed to supply you with a Form 16A.

The return needs to be filed before 31st August if you are eligible for tax refunds. If you aren't due for a refund and yoursalary is under 5 lakhs (with no other income like interest on bank deposits etc), you are exempt from filing returns. It isprudent to do so nonetheless, especially if you intend to apply for home \ car loans in the future, since that requires I-Treturn details spanning the previous three years. With the Form 16 sorted out, you can now visit the Income TaxIndia website.

Step I: Assuming that you are yet to register, click on the Registerlink on the right side to create a new account. Youwill be prompted to enter your PAN(Permanent Account Number), which is assigned as your user ID. Hit the ClickMe button to proceed to the next page. Enter your details in the registration form keep your PAN card handy, becausethe details have to exactly match those mentioned on the card. Keep the Click here if you want to register your DigitalCertificate box unchecked, because you most likely don't have one. Then click the registerbutton to complete the signup,following which you will receive a confirmation e-mail.

Step II: Log into your spanking new account. The very first thing you need to do is view your Form 26AS statement,


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which specifies how much tax has been paid on your behalf to the I-T department. To view the statement, click on

the View Tax Credit Statement (Form 26AS) under the My Accountdrop-down menu at the top. In the subsequent page,selectAssessment Year 2012-13 from the drop-down box, enter your Date of Birth, the security code, and click Submit.In the next page, click on the Confirm button, then on the View Form 26AS link at the bottom of the page that opens.

Step III: Your Form 26AS should now be visible

Note down the total of the TDS depositedcolumn. This is the tax that has actually been paid on your behalf. Nowtake all your Form 16 \ 16As that you have, and total up the amounts in the Tax payable field of each form. Observe the


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details carefully to make sure there is no addition mistake. This is the tax amount that you're supposed to pay.

Now, there are three possibilities: Case 1: The tax that you actually paid (Form 26AS) is exactly equal to the tax that you're supposed to pay

(Form 16 \ 16A). This means there is no mismatch and you can proceed with the rest of the steps.

Case 2: The tax that you actually paid is more than the tax you're supposed to pay. In this case, you're eligiblefor a tax refund. Proceed as usual.

Case 3: The tax that you actually paid is less than the tax you're supposed to pay. Whoops, there's been ascrew-up somewhere!

The third case is rather rare, but if it happens, you should not file your I-T return online. You will have to contact a CAfor his help in finding out what caused the discrepancy. The most likely reason for this is that your employer or bankmade an error while depositing the tax or making an entry in the system. However, since pretty much everything's

computerized nowadays, this is a very unusual occurrence, so you'll almost never have to worry about it happening toyou.Step IV: Next, assuming all has checked out well and you belong to either of the first two cases listed in the previousstep, you'll need to know which I-T jurisdiction you fall under (this is needed when filling the tax form). Head back to theIncome Tax E-Filing homepage and click on Know your Jurisdictional AO under the Services drop-down menu at the top.Note down your jurisdiction code as shown below in this case, 3(3).

Step V: Now, we need to download the I-T return form. To do so, select Individual, HUF from the e-Filing A.Y. 2012-13 menu under the DOWNLOAD section in the left panel. Since this guide only covers salaried individuals, you'll have to

download the ITR-1 (SAHAJ) form as highlighted below.

Step VI: Extract the Excelspreadsheet from the ZIP file downloaded in the previous step and open it. Make sure youenable macros andActiveXcontent by choosing the Enable this contentradio button when the Security Alert - Macros &

ActiveXsecurity warning pops up. If you have Microsoft Office 2010, click on the Enable Contentbutton that will show upat the top of the sheet. Do not useApache OpenOffice or any other office suite to open this sheet it is compatible onlywith MS Excel.

Get your Form 16 \ 16A ready, as most of the details will have to be copied over from in a fairly straightforward way. Onopening the spreadsheet, you will find yourself in the Income Details page of a multi-sheet document. Enter the detailssuch as your name, address, birth date, PAN number, and INCOME TAX WARD \CIRCLE(jurisdiction code), the last ofwhich was obtained in Step IV. Unless you're employed by the Indian government or in a Public Sector Undertaking(PSU), select OTHfrom the drop-down menu in the Employer Category (if in employment) field. Keep the default value

for the Return filed under section field.


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Step VII: Scroll down and fill up Field 1 based on the amount mentioned in the Income chargeable under the head'salaries'field in your Form 16. Field 2 is meant for rental income from a single house. If you've collected rent from morethan one house or sold your property in the previous financial year (Apr 11-Mar 12), this guide ends here, because youneed to fill up ITR-2 instead. Field 3 is the sum of the interest earned from your bank accounts, fixed deposits (FD), etc.You will get this information from your bank account statement, or in case tax has been deducted, from the Form 16Asupplied by your bank.

In case you've made tax-saving investments, mention them in the relevant sections ofField 5. Note that donations made

under Section 80(G) will have to be filled out separately, which I will come to in Step X. Finally, click onthe Validate button near the top. When it gives you an OKmessage, and proceed to the TDS sheet by clicking theNextbutton or selecting the TDS tab at the bottom of the Excel screen.

Step VIII: Once in the TDS sheet, fill in columns (2), (3), and (5) from your Form 26AS statement. The informationunder column (4) needs to be taken from the Form 16. You don't need to fill in individual payments from the statement simply total all the amounts for each unique Tax Deduction Account Number (TAN) into one single row. In thisexample, even though the Form 26AS in Step III shows 10 payments made by the employer with TAN BLRT08111F,


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they've all been clubbed into a single row after totalling all the entries. If you had drawn a salary from more than one

employer during the year, enter them in the additional rows provided. You can add even more rows by pressingthe + button below the section.

Note: The remaining part of this step will not be applicable to most of you (all those who didn't get taxed on the interestfrom bank accounts and FDs), so you can safely skip it if you don't want to get confused by the details. If so, clickthe Validate button, and once you get the OKmessage, click Nextor go to the Taxes paid and Verification sheet.

Field 24 is meant to fill in TDS details on your income from investments such as fixed deposits, savings accounts, etc, ifany. If so, you will have received a Form 16A from your bank. Fill columns (2), (3), and (6) as before by referring toForm 26AS. The amounts in column (7) will be equal to those in column (6). Finally, columns (4) and (5) can be filled by

using the Form 16A you received from the bank. Note that column (5) will almost always be given a value of2011 (sincethe TDS amount for the interest was deducted in 2011-12). As before, total all the deductions made by a unique TAN intoa single row, and place separate TANs in different rows. Use the + button to add more rows if required.

Finally, Field 25deals withAdvance Taxand Self Assessment Tax. WhileAdvance Taxis not applicable to most of us, thelatter is best illustrated with this example: suppose you have a large sum in your bank account earning you a tidyinterest that's already taxed at the default rate of 10%. You've entered this interest amount in Field 3 of the IncomeDetails sheet. However, your total income actually puts you in the 20% tax bracket. In this case, once you've filled outall the other fields and pressed the Calculate button to compute the payable tax, the spreadsheet will indicate that younow owe some tax to the I-T department.

Once you know the amount you owe, you will have to pay the tax first, then come back and complete the rest of thesteps. You can make the payment through any nationalised bank and receive a challan number. An easier way though isto pay the amount online as follows: visit this e-payment site, then click the CHALLAN NO./ITNS 280 link. In the page

that opens, select the (0021) INCOME-TAX (OTHER THAN COMPANIES) radio button and the (300)SELF ASSESSMENTTAXoption in the Type Of Paymentsection. Fill up the rest of the form, and choose the bank where you have a netbanking account. When you click Proceed, you will be taken to that bank's payment gateway, where you can completethe transaction by entering the tax amount. Once the payment has been made, you will be provided a receipt containing

the challan number and other details, which you can enter into the corresponding columns.

Finally, click on the Validate button near the top and after getting the OKmessage, click on the Nextbutton or proceed tothe Taxes paid and Verification sheet.

Step IX: Phew! Now that we've successfully completed Step VIII, it's all downhill from here. Enter your bank accountnumber in Field 20. If you're due for a refund (remember Case 2 in Step III?) and would like it to be sent straight intoyour account (the most convenient way), select Yes in Field 21. Then enter the 9-digit MICR Code (printed in your chequebook) and type of account (usually Savings) in Field 22. However, if you're not eligible for a refund (Case 1, Step III) or

would like a cheque, select No in Field 21instead and skip Field 22.

Next, fill all the details in Field 26. As in the earlier steps, validate this sheet and then move on to the final one: 80G.


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Step X: The 80G sheet is used to provide information about any donations you might have made under the 80(G) sectioneligible for tax deductions. Of course, if you haven't made any donations, leave the fields empty.

In most cases, the donations you made will be liable to a 50% exemption, in which case, you have to fill in Section B. Thecolumns are self-explanatory, and the information will be available in the 80(G) receipt provided by the charity. Thequalifying amounts will then be automatically filled into Field 5iof the Income Details sheet. Validate the data, then comeback to the main Income Details sheet.

Step XI: Once all the sheets have been validated and you've returned to the first Income Details sheet, clickthe Calculate Taxbutton near the top of the screen. This will fill outFields 16-19 in the Taxes paid and Verification sheet,thus providing the final figure of the taxes you owe or the refund due to you. In case you owe some tax, you will have topay it first before going ahead with the next few steps. Refer to the end part ofStep VIII for details on how to do this.

Now, click on the Generate button, which will create a new sheet in the document, called Pre-XML Check. This sheet

contains a summary of your tax statement and other important details, so you can double-check them for errors. Onceyou've confirmed everything's OK, click on the Save XML button to create an XML report file that will be saved in the

same location as the ITR-1 spreadsheet.


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Step XII: We now need to submit the XML file to the I-T department. To do so, head back to the Income Tax E-Filing

website (make sure you're still logged in) and selectAY 12-13 from the Select Assessment Yearmenu under the SUBMIT

RETURNsection in the left panel.In the subsequent form, select ITR-1 from the Select Form Name list. Since you most likely don't have a digital signature,choose not to digitally sign the file, then hit Next. In the screen that follows, browse to the location where the XML filewas created in the previous step and select it. Click on the Uploadbutton. That's it, your return has been filed!

Step XIII: One final task remains. After the upload is complete, you will be asked to download a ZIP file containing Form

ITR-V. This is an important document that needs to be signed by you. In the absence of a digital signature, it acts as aphysical verification that the information you have provided to the I-T authorities is not fraudulent. You will also receivethis file in your e-mail inbox.

Extract this PDF file and open it using the password, which is your PAN number followed by your date of birth, all inlowercase and with no spaces or special characters. As an example, assume that your PAN is AFHWR4348Jand your birthdate is 30-Aug-1979. In that case, the password will be: afhwr4348j30081979. Take a printout of this file, sign it, andmail it to the following address:

Income Tax Department - CPC, Post Bag #1, Electronic City Post Office, Bangalore - 560 100Please note that you can mail this document either through regular or Speed Post, but not via registered post or courier.The letter must reach within 120 days (four months) of submitting the XML file. Roughly about 15 days after mailingthe ITR-V, you will receive an acknowledgement email from the I-T department, thus concluding the entire process.

Congratulations , you have successfully achieved the goal of filing your Income Tax returns online! You may now

celebrate.

by Jayesh Limaye (The TechTree)

How to File Your Income Tax Return Online

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