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Salary earners upto Rs 5 lakh need to file I-T return: CBDT

Salaried persons earning upto Rs 5 lakh annually will have to file income tax returns, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said on Monday.

July 22, 2013:Unlike the past two years, salaried persons earning up to Rs 5 lakh annually will have to file income tax returns, CBDT said on Monday.      

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) had exempted salaried employees having total income of upto Rs 5 lakh including income from other sources upto Rs 10,000 from the requirement of filing income tax return for assessment year 2011-12 and 2012-13, respectively.

 "The exemption was available only for the assessment years 2011-12 and 2012-13...the exemption provided during the last two years is not being extended for assessment year 2013-14," the CBDT said in a statement. Earlier in May, the CBDT had made E-filing of income tax return compulsory for assessment year 2013-14 for persons having total assessable income exceeding Rs 5 lakh. 

     

The CBDT said the exemption was given considering paper filing of returns and their processing through manual entry on system. It said the exemption has been not been extended as the facility for online filing of returns has been made "user-friendly with the advantage of pre-filled return forms".

     

These e-filed forms also get electronically processed at the central processing centre in a speedy manner, it said. "Taxpayers are encouraged to file their returns electronically. E-filing is an easy, fast and secure method of filing of income tax return. Moreover, digital signature is not mandatory for these taxpayers...," the Ministry added.

For filing returns, an assessee can transmit the data in the return electronically by downloading ITRs, or by online filing. Thereafter the assessee had to submit the verification of the return from ITR-V for acknowledgement after signature to Central Processing Centre. The tax department will set up special return receipt counters for salaried tax payers from July 25 to 31 at Pratayakshar Bhawan, New Delhi. "As returns of income above Rs 5 lakh have to be e-filed online mandatorily, the same will not be received at any of these special counters. Only paper return of income upto Rs 5 lakhs can be filed at these counters," the Finance Ministry added. In the past, the special counters operated from Pragati Maidan and Mayur Bhavan.

How to file tax returns electronically

July 18, 2013:Come July, what is on top of our minds is tax return filing.

Most of us might have experienced hardships in manual preparation and verification of returns, visiting the tax office, identifying the jurisdiction and spending time in long queues when filing the returns in paper form. On the contrary, e-filing is really a boon, as the benefits range from avoiding long queues to file returns to quick processing of the tax returns to speedy refunds. But the catch is that you need to focus on a few things while filing the tax return electronically. Otherwise, you will end up wasting time with added woe to set things right later on. Here is a guide to e-filing returns through the Income-Tax Department’s Web site.

What you should do

Ensure that appropriate ITR Form is used, which is available for download in the Income-tax e-Filing website – https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in. For example, ITR 1 is to be used in case an individual has income from salary, house property and other sources whereas ITR 2 is applicable for those having income from all other sources except income from business or profession.

Also, fill in your correct contact details (address, email and telephone number) in the income-tax return, to ensure appropriate communication from the Tax Department. Make sure that the bank account number and MICR code (the 9 digit number found at the bottom of the cheque leaves) is entered correctly, in order to facilitate refund credits.

Verify the tax credits as reflected in the Form 26AS (available for download in the same website). Form 26AS is a consolidated tax statement which includes details of tax deducted at source, advance tax, self assessment tax etc deposited by the taxpayer. You must identify any mismatch in the tax credits against the Form 16 / Form 16A (TDS certificates) issued, to take up the matter with the deductor (employer / banker) on time.

Steps to Filing return

As a prerequisite, you should get registered at www.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in using PAN and other personal and contact details. On receipt of activation link and by successfully activating it, you are ready for e-filing of the tax return.

In this context, it is also beneficial to understand ‘XML files’ and ‘Digital signature’ . XML file is a file format which is generated for uploading a tax return, which can be understood both by the taxpayer and the computer. Whereas, digital signature is a method by which authentication is done electronically instead of physical signature.

The following steps should be taken for e-filing of the tax return. First, select the appropriate ITR Form and download the same. Fill the ITR Form offline and save the XML file generated by the Form.

Then, register your PAN in the income-tax website by getting a username (the PAN itself ) and a password (of your choice). Log in and click the relevant form on the left panel and select "Submit Return". After this, upload the XML file and print the acknowledgement/ ITR-V Form. If you wish to use a digital signature to sign the return, then the process is over. If not, you need to sign and file the acknowledgement with the Central Processing Centre (CPC) of the Income-tax Department within 120 days of uploading the return. Once the CPC receives the physical copy of the signed ITR-V form, an acknowledgement will be sent by email.

The income tax department has upgraded its e-filing website with additional features. With a user-friendly interface and enhanced features, the website allows taxpayers to submit tax returns, request for rectification of returns, view old tax returns and their acknowledgements as well as demand and check the status of tax refunds. Though the process of e-filing may appear to be little complicated, by paying a little attention to above, one can reap the benefits of e-filing!

What you should not do

Do not miss to file your returns on time. Delay in filing the tax return has certain unfavourable consequences as you would lose your entitlement to carry forward losses to subsequent years (except loss from house property). Also, you lose the benefit of being able to revise the return in case of an error or omission discovered later. Lastly, it could also be a costly affair as there is an interest charge at the rate of 1 per cent of outstanding taxes, per month of delay in filing the returns.

Do not forget to send the signed ITR V, after uploading your tax return on the website of the Income-tax department (without digital signature), within 120 days to CPC, else the tax return becomes invalid as and is as good as not filed.

Special counters to file tax returns in Delhi

NEW DELHI, JULY 17:  Special counters for filing of tax returns will be set up in the national capital. The counters would become operational from July 25 till July 31 and will remain open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. officials said.

July 31 is the deadline for filing of I—T returns by salaried and individual taxpayers. The counters will be established in the Income Tax department premises at Civic Centre complex, close to Connaught Place.

The department has centralized all its offices under one roof in this new centre recently. Tax Return Prepares (TRPs) will be there to help people file their tax returns and special desks for senior citizens would be set up at the centres, a senior official said.

Every district to have I-T office by 2013

NEW DELHI, JULY 15:  Every district in the country will have at least one Income Tax office once the ambitious cadre restructuring of the department is implemented by the end of this year. The proposal was discussed at length and approved at a recent meeting of top I-T and Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) officials as they sat down to plan the rollout of the recent government decision which sanctioned a large-scale cadre restructuring of the department and created 20,751 posts, in various ranks, in the I-T department.

The CBDT, the apex policy making body of the tax department, has put its stamp of approval on the decision. “The effort will be to create an I-T office in every district of India. This would not only reduce the hardship of taxpayers residing in mofussil and small towns but also widen the tax base bringing in more revenue to the government kitty,” a top official privy to the development said.

The department has also decided to implement the big- ticket restructuring proposal by the end of this year, the official said. At present, only metro, semi-metro cities and few towns have I-T offices while a number of districts have no such office and taxpayers have to go to the nearest city or neighboring district to perform tax related works.

The CBDT had recently called all the top officials heading I-T units across the country here to finalise the road ahead in this regard. According to the new blueprint of the I-T in this regard, the number of assessment units of the department would be “increased by 1,080 from 3,420 to 4,500 for strengthening the tax administration“. This step is expected to “bring additional revenue of Rs 25,756.04 crore per annum against an expenditure of Rs 449.71 crore per annum”, the new blueprint says.

“The primary objective of the strengthening/restructuring exercise (of the I-T department) is to improve the efficiency of the I-T department, maximize revenue collection and provide better services to the taxpayers, apart from improving career prospects of the employees,” the blueprint, also called the vision document, says.