How to File Income Tax Return Online

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The Indian government has extended the last date of filing Income Tax Return (ITR) for the assessment year 2020-21 from 30 June 2020 to 30 Nov 2020  due to the current pandemic situation. So don't wait too much as you can do it yourself also.

If you are reading this and your income comes from a salary then continue reading this article completely as this can help you to fill your ITR online very easily and Yes, you don't need any CA for this. You can do it yourself on your desktop or laptop or even on your smartphone.

This tutorial will be for salaried income (ITR-1 Sahaj form).

This year the e-filing Portal from the Income Tax Department is also updated with new features and new options. If your PAN number is correctly linked with the ITR site then it will fetch all the details automatically and you have to just verify and submit the ITR form, hence it is much more easier than earlier years.

So before I start the step by step tutorial for online ITR-1 Filing, there are some prerequisites:

1) PAN Number 

2) Form 16 (provided by your employer)

3) Aadhaar Number/Aadhaar Enrolment Number

So keep these informations with you and follow the below steps.

Step 1: Open your web browser (Google Chrome preferred) and go to https://www.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/ 

Step 2: On the home page, if you are a registered user click "Login Here" or if you are not registered, click "Register Yourself" and complete the one-time registration process.

Step 3: In the login page, enter your user id (PAN number), password, and Captcha (Captcha will be case sensitive) to log in. You can use the Forgot Password option also if you have forgotten the password. After this process, you will reach the dashboard of the e-filing portal.

Step 4: In the Dashboard, Goto e-file option and select Income Tax Return

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Step 5: Select Assessment Year 2020-21 and Form ITR-1

Step 6: You will get an option now to either fill and submit the form online or by downloading an excel file and filling it offline and finally you have to upload an XML file generated from that excel file to complete the process.  I will suggest you go with the first option (fill and submit online) as it is more convenient. 

Step 7: Select the e-Verify option and click continue. 

You can e-Verify the ITR form using Aadhaar OTP, BANK Login, and Demat Login. If you don't e-verify than you have to send the hard copy to CPC Bangalore for verification. 

Step 8: An instruction tab will be opened, read all the instructions carefully.

Step 9: Click next to go to "Part A General Information Tab"

This section has all your information like name, Aadhaar number, PAN number, address. Verify and update all these details. 

In the second section of this tab, Select your nature of employment, and select Filed u/s 139(1). 

One new option is added this year in this section which is for the Seventh proviso under section 139(1). So if you are filing just for your salaried income select No in this option and continue.

Step 10: Click next to go to the "Computation of Income and Tax"

In this section, your Form 16 will be required. Just verify all the details in this section with your Form 16. The nomenclature of you Form 16 and this Tab option will be the same, so you can match the same easily and verify the amounts mentioned in each section. 

One addition in this section which will not be present in you Form 16 will be the "Income from other sources" section. This section will include all the interests you got from your Bank balance and FDs.

If there is no income from other sources then the final tax amount shown in the bottom should match your Form 16 tax amount.

This year four new tabs are introduced as schedule tabs which will be used for the computation of tax. You have to enter the amounts in these schedules as below and it will add automatically in the "Computation of Income and Tax" tab.

Schedule DI: This is for those who have done any investment during the extended period of 01/04/2020 to 01/07/2020 as announced by the Indian Government.

Schedule 80D: It is for medical expenditures you have done on yourself and on your family including your parents (if dependent on you)

Schedule 80G: All the donation amounts towards relief funds and charitable trusts comes under this section.

Schedule 80GGA: All the donation amounts towards scientific research and rural development comes under this section.

So finally verify this tab carefully how much amount you got last year and how much amount you invested for tax savings. Verify and go to the next tab.

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Step 11: Next Tab is "Tax Details"

In this tab, you will see all the amount your employer or any bank has taken from you as tax in the last financial year. Verify the details carefully and you can also add or modify the details as per your information. Click next to go to the next tab.

Step 12: Next Tab is "Tax Paid and Verifications" 

In this tab, you will finally see the amount of tax you have submitted in the last financial year and what amount is currently payable or refundable. If the amount is payable than there is an option of Pay tax that will be highlighted. And if the amount is refundable than it will be refunded to your given bank account after the verification process.

Fill all the details in this tab and click submit. 

During all of these processes you can save the form as a draft any time, it will save all the changes and you don't have to refill all again if you closed the tab accidentally. 

Step 13: After submitting the form e-Verify the form using the previously described methods. The best and fastest method is verifying using Aadhar OTP. 

So, by following these 13 easy steps you can file your ITR for assessment year 2020-21 and this process will not take more than 15-20 minutes of your time. 

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