It’s July and one thing that is on
everyone’s mind is the filing of tax returns. The Income tax department
has taken several steps to ease the process and increase compliance.
Some of the technology initiatives that have been undertaken by the tax
department include e-payment of taxes, simplified tax return forms,
e-verification of ITR-V, e-assessments etc. In addition, the tax
department’s digital communication via regular e-mails, text messages
and advertisements has increased awareness amongst taxpayers.
Nowadays, one should not feel hesitant in filing their income tax
returns. There are several websites which also helps you filing your
returns with ease.
Amarpal S Chadha, Partner and India Mobility Leader, Ernst & Young
LLP said that all these initiatives and the focus on unaccounted money
have increased the taxpayer base, with the number of e-returns filed
increasing to 5.28 Crore in the financial year 2016-17 from last year's 4
Crore approximately. “As tax authorities move towards greater
digitisation, taxpayers should follow the developments closely to ensure
compliance and hassle-free correspondence with the tax authorities,” he
said.
The tax department has introduced several new features to ease down the
process and reduce the complexity in filing returns. Here are 5 reasons
how the filing of ITR has become easy and a quick process.
Easy to register
If it is your first time or you want to file your tax returns on your
own, create your login ID on ITR filing website. It is simple, you just
need to have your PAN card along with you and after that, you need to
follow the steps one after the other. Once it is done, you can file your
returns hassle-free.
Pre-fill text option
Over the years, the tax return forms have been re-worked for individual
taxpayers. Also, additional features like the pre-fill option of the tax
returns with personal information and tax details as available in the
tax department’s database is a good help. Divya Baweja, Partner,
Deloitte India, “Digitization has eased the onerous process of manual
feeding of personal information and income/tax details. “Data already
available with the tax authorities in the form of PAN and Form 26AS can
be pre-populated in returns filed through ITR 1,” she said.
Pay digitally
With the introduction of e-payment, the tax can be paid anytime and
anywhere. The tax department has also introduced a link in the tax
return form which takes the taxpayers directly to the portal for
e-payment of taxes in order to ease the process for taxpayers.
E-verification of tax returns
Verifying your tax return form has become uncomplicated. Even if you
file your tax using other tax filing website, the clearing of ITR form
is just a two-step process when it comes to finally verifying it at the
income tax filing portal that is, visiting incometaxindia.gov.in website.
Further, with the introduction of e-verification, taxpayers are no
longer required to send a signed ITR-V to the Centralized Processing
Centre, thus turning the whole process of verification of returns
paperless and instant.
“Additionally e-verification facility through Aadhaar has done away with
manual verification. Overall, one can see the benefit of digitization
in the form of simplification of process and reduced timelines for
filing the return,” said Baweja.
E-assessment of tax returns
“Another major revamp the tax department has undertaken in the recent
times is the move to e-assessments. Notices are now sent to taxpayers
via e-mail and responses are also furnished online at the choice of the
taxpayer (depending on the complexity). The aim is to reduce the
processing time as well as human intervention,” said Chadha.
From: sapost.blogspot.in
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