Filing your Income Tax Return Online

A good new for all those who are paying the agent for filing their income tax returns. Now you can file your income tax returns online.

Steps to file income tax online

• Visit the incometaxindia website (www.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/portal/index.jsp) and register as a new user.
• Fill your personal details and your permanent account number (PAN) inside the box provided on the form and click on the 'Register' button.
• Once you click on the 'Register' button you will be taken to a form that will automatically have your address and other details (as submitted by you for getting a PAN). You will just have to put your own password, telephone number, e-mail and click on the 'Submit' button.
• And you will be taken to a page that has links for e-filing your tax returns for the assessment year 2006-07 and 2007-08. Assessment year is a period of 12 months starting from April 1 and ending on March 31 the following year. Previous year is the financial year immediately before the assessment year.
• Income earned in the previous year is taxable in the assessment year.

Let's take an example to make it simple.
Let's take April 1, 2006 to March 31, 2007 as the assessment year. The previous year corresponding to this assessment year will be April 1, 2005 to March 31, 2006.

So the income earned in the previous year April 1, 2005 to March 31, 2006 is taxable in the assessment year starting from April 1, 2006 to March 31, 2007.

Similarly, income earned in the previous year April 1, 2006 to March 31, 2007 is taxable in the assessment year starting from April 1, 2007 to March 31, 2008.

• Now let's say you click on e-filing for A.Y. 2007-08. You will be taken to a page from where you can download an excel utility that helps you file online income tax returns.
• Choose which category you belong to (salaried employees with only salary income will have to download ITR-1).
• Fill in the required data asked for in the excel sheet.
• Save the excel file on your local machine.
• Click on 'Submit return' link in the middle on the left hand side to upload the saved excel file to the income tax of India's server.

After uploading excel file successfully a form will pop up in your computer's window. This is in acknowledgement that you have filed your returns online successfully. Take a print out of this form and fill in the verification part which duly needs to be posted to your nearest local income tax office.

Take due care that if you upload the file today then the income tax department should receive the verification form duly filled and signed in the next 15 days by post. If not you will have to go through the entire procedure again.

If you are already raising your eyebrows then here's a solution to it: digital signature. This is something that will make your e-filing income tax returns really paperless.

Digital signature is like your electronic identity that confirms that the person who has submitted all the details is really 'YOU'. Companies like Safe Scrypt (http://www.safescrypt.com/solutions_and_services/digital_certificate_services.html) will do it for you, again online and for a fee. As per the IT Act 2000 they are legally as valid as physically signed documents in any Indian court of law.

Filing your income tax returns is now really possible at the click of a mouse.