Several people fret over income tax filing; they have no clue how to go about it and often find themselves struggling with the process. However, with the Government of India allowing the people to file the returns online, the process has become much simpler and quicker than ever before. If you are filing your returns for the first time, the following step-by-step process will greatly help you glide through the process; all you would need is a computer/smart phone and good internet connectivity to get started.
First and foremost, you would need to create a new income tax efiling account. For this, you must visit the official website of the income tax department and click on the ‘register yourself’ section. It will redirect you to a new form wherein you would have to fill all your details. After filling the required details, click on ‘create account’ and then login into your account with the user ID, which would be your PAN number and the password.
After you log in, click to view the form 26AS, displayed under the Quick Link menu. The Form 26AS is a consolidated statement of tax issued to every tax payer, which provides a summary of the amount paid towards each PAN number. The form also gives a summary of the Advance tax, TDS and the self-assessment tax paid against your name. When you try to open the form, you would be asked to enter a password, which would be your date of birth in the DDMMYYY format.
Once you have the Form 26AS, next download the income tax return form displayed under the quick link menu. Under the menu, you would find different ITR forms, ITR 1, ITR 2, download the relevant form. Please note ITR 1 form is for salaried employees and people relying on pension for livelihood. However, if you earn an income through more than one property or if you are an ordinary resident having invested in assets overseas, then you should download the ITR 2 form.
After downloading the ITR form, extract the excel form from the zip file and enable the macros in the Excel form to fill the details required therein. Make sure that you read the instructions carefully before filling the following information:
- Mention all the necessary information such as the name, PAN number, full residential address, birth date, mobile number, e-mail id and residential status.
- While filling in the important details, you can refer to the details of your Form 16 or Form 26AS. However, you would also have to report other income or investment eligible for deductions, not mentioned by the employer.
- Enter the details of the tax deducted by the employer and other deductions, if any.
After you fill all the details, click on the ‘validate’ button, provided on all the sheets. It will ensure that the details are saved properly in return. If you have omitted anything, the sheet will automatically show you the missing details. Fill the required details and validate again.
Next, before you submit the form, make sure that you verify all the details. If the details are all correct, click on the ‘generate XML’ button. Log onto the website again and click on the upload XML button; you would have to first log in with your user ID (which is your PAN number) to upload the XML file on your computer and then submit it.
After you submit the ITR form, an acknowledge number gets assigned to you, and if you have filed the returns using your digital signature, you must keep the acknowledgement number saved for future reference. Also, in the case of online filing, other than acknowledgement number, you also would get an ITR-V in your registered email id.
