Changes you must keep in mind while filing IT return


By Gyanendra Kumar Keshri

New Delhi, Jul 17 (IANS): The government has introduced several changes in the process of filing Income Tax returns to ensure increased compliance, disclosure and transparency.

As the July 31 deadline for submitting income tax returns gets closer, IANS analyses the key changes and provides a detailed guide to make your filing easier.

Although the tax rates and slabs for the assessment year 2014-15 or financial year 2013-14 remain the same as they were in the previous year, a rebate of Rs.2,000 is offered to resident individual if his/her total income is upto Rs.500,000 after the standard deductions. The rebate is provided under Section 87A. The assessment year is always one year ahead of the financial year.

A surcharge of 10 percent on the income above Rs.1 crore is levied for the assessment year 2014-15. The income tax department has added a new column for this surcharge.

Another major change is related to discontinuation of refunds through cheques. You must provide details of bank account to get refunds, if any. The IT department has decided to discontinue payment of refunds through cheques and it will be done only through electronic clearance service (ECS).

“You must carefully mention your bank account details. Blanks, all zeros, special characters, etc. are not allowed,” said Surendra Pareek, partner, tax, KPMG in India.

Pareek said prior to logging in to the e-filing website, contact details like mobile number and e-mail address need to be updated for all taxpayers filing returns electronically.

However, non-residents and foreign taxpayers need to update only their e-mail addresses.

It has become mandatory for all those people whose taxable income exceed Rs.5 lakh to file the returns electronically. This was made mandatory from the assessment year 2013-14.

There are two ways of filing the return online. You can either file your return online by going to the income tax department website incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in or through the government authorised e-return intermediary.

Filing of return through the department's website is free of cost, while e-return intermediaries charge a fee of around Rs.250 to Rs.1,500, depending on the kind of services.

Ankur Sharma, co-founder and chief executive officer of TaxSpanner.com, a leading e-return intermediary, said that with a view to providing more transparent services, the IT department has decided to limit the number of returns which can be e-filed using a single email id at four.

“The income tax department may increase this number a bit, but the idea of connecting directly with the taxpayer is very welcome,” said Sharma, adding that the use of only taxpayer's email ID in electronic filing of returns would ensure that he/she remain in control of data.

The process has become easier for Non-Resident Indian (NRI) assessees. Now, the Central Processing Centre (CPC), Bangalore, will auto process income tax returns of NRIs. Earlier there used to be manual verification.

In addition to the Excel software, the income tax return can also be filed using Java from this year. Java software allows pre-filling of data into the ITR forms based on information available in the Permanent Account Number (PAN) database and Form 26AS. The new utility also supports direct uploading of the Income Tax Return (ITR) form to the Income Tax department. Direct upload facility is not available in the Excel utility.

The e-filing website allows free download of Java and Excel utilities to fill in the ITR forms. The utilities are available at the income tax department website: incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in. Some private players also offer this software.

Referring to an income tax department guideline, Pareek said taxpayers should be careful in selecting the software and should avoid unauthorised Mobile Apps which are available for preparation and filing of the ITRs.

Most of the stakeholders and analysts IANS spoke to expressed hope that the number of electronic filing of returns is estimated to jump by almost 40 percent this year.

According to data available with the income tax department, 2,799,055 income tax returns were filed electronically in the first three months of the current fiscal. In the financial year 2013-14, a total 29,681,794 returns were filed online.

Easier processes and mandatory limit of online filing to income above Rs.5 lakh is likely to boost e-filing.


(Gyanendra Kumar Keshri can be reached at gyanendra.k@ians.in)

  

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Comment on this article

  • Ashwin, mangalore

    Thu, Jul 17 2014

    Property tax may be a few thousand like Rs2,500/- so 25rs is 1%, and it involves only filling a form which is very easy. IT filing on other hand is complex. 250 rs for income of 2.5L is not even 1%, its 0.1%. Seems fair doesn't it? Qualified person does the work like a CA compared to any 10th pass for property tax :) Respect the difference in the work done. for the self doers, it anyways is free, so why complain.

    DisAgree Agree [4] Reply Report Abuse

  • Valerian Dsouza, Udupi/Mumbai

    Thu, Jul 17 2014

    Definitely, several changes that have taken place during the entire financial year should be born in mind.
    Earlier changes used to take place once in a year during budget, but now? several times!
    Moment we learn, there are some more changes.
    Even software makers are also confused lot for so many changes are taking place, so many times.
    Software guys have no time to train the users about implementation of change
    they are busy in incorporating the changes only.
    Govt seems happy to see assesses do mistakes while filing, so during scrutiny they can be nicely screwed up! No consistency at all.

    DisAgree Agree [7] Reply Report Abuse

  • Santan Mascarenhas, Kinnigoli/Mumbai

    Fri, Jul 18 2014

    Valerian
    You say they can be nicely screwed up ! Yes indeed. Please read:
    Customer: Sir, I have got a notice from IT that I have to appear before them, please tell me which dress I should wear, a suit or like a poor man ?
    IT Practitioner: You are asking me a question just like a bride asking her friend what dress she should wear on the first night.
    Customer: what relation with a new bride with this ?
    IT Practitioner: Whatever the dress you wear, like the bride, either way you are going to be screwed.

    DisAgree Agree [7] Reply Report Abuse

  • Mahesh S Kotian, mlr/Smg

    Thu, Jul 17 2014

    "charge a fee of around Rs.250 to Rs.1,500, depending on the kind of services."
    This is tooo much.Property tax SAS people charge only 25 Rs / form.Every year IT dept is making returns simpler.So why should one pay so much amount?

    DisAgree [9] Agree [6] Reply Report Abuse

  • Santan Mascarenhas, Kinnigoli/Mumbai

    Thu, Jul 17 2014

    Mahesh S. Kotian, Mlr
    Income tax is a very complicated act and only a Chartered Accountant or an M.com with taxation can have full knowledge. As shown above, the e-filing thru
    Govt website is free. There are many websites for filing income tax, they charge between Rs 100 and 500. After registration, the website guides you till one gets the ITR-V back from IT dept. Otherwise, one can go to TRP (Tax Return Preparers) Or Income tax Practitioners who may charge Rs 1000 and above. TRP has to be a B.Com. with training. To practice the profession, one has to be a B.Com. or LL.B. or a Chartered Accountant. You may know that only 5 to 6% candidates pass CA final exam. To give an example: A company purchased a sophisticated machine, which after sometime, stopped. The company's Engineer could not start it, hence they called the Manufacturer's Engineer. The Engineer who came checked and just gave one stroke by the hammer and machine started.
    The company got a bill of $100, where just a stroke by the hammer does not require any charge. The company asked why $100, the manufacturer replied $1 for the stroke and $99 for knowing where to strike.

    DisAgree [2] Agree [11] Reply Report Abuse


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