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Today is the last day for filing your income tax return or ITR for the financial year 2014-15.
But even after filing your ITR online, your job won't still be over!
Here is a six-point checklist for taxpayers to be observed after e-filing of ITR online.
Most of us think that we are done away with our e-filing task as soon as we submit the ITR online. And perhaps this notion is one of the main causes for the troubles and income tax notices faced by taxpayers after e-filing.
For instance the taxpayers are supposed to verify their income tax return after e-filing and failing to do so may treat their e-filed ITR as invalid. Likewise, ignorance of other things may either lead to additional tax demand or loss of tax refunds.
1. Verify the ITR or dispatch ITR-V
The primary thing that one should do just after e-filing is that either s/he should e-verify her/his ITR or dispatch ITR-V to CPC Bangalore. The detailed manner of doing this is discussed below. Remember that you have to verify the ITR by any one of the following mode.
A. Electronic verification of ITR
The IT department has suggested two methods of verifying the ITR electronically. For electronic verification, you need to login to incometaxindiae-filing.gov.in and navigate to 'E-Verify Return' option of the main menu.
i. The first method is through linking your Aadhar Card with your PAN number and thereafter generating OTP (one time password) which gets delivered at your registered mobile number and thereafter you will have to enter this OTP to validate your e-filing.
ii. The second method is through generating electronic verification code (EVC) which gets delivered at registered mobile number or email ID. This electronic verification code is then used to verify your ITR. The main drawback of the second method is that it cannot be used by those taxpayers who are seeking any ITR or if they have total income of more than Rs 5 lakh.
B. Dispatching ITR-V to CPC, Bangalore
If you have not verified your ITR electronically then you are supposed to send signed copy of ITR-V to CPC, Bangalore within 120 days of e-filing. ITR-V is the acknowledgement form that you get after filing your ITR. It must be signed and sent to CPC, Bengaluru within 120 days of e-filing your ITR. The address to send via ordinary post or Speed Post is:
Income Tax Department-CPC,
Post Box No-1,
Electronic City Post Office,
Bangalore-560200, Karnataka
It must not be sent by courier or other means. However, if you have signed the return by digital signature, then posting of ITR-V form to CPC, Bangalore is not required.
If you forget to e-verify your ITR or fail to dispatch ITR-V to CPC Bangalore then it will be considered as if you have not filed your income tax return and the IT department will not process your ITR.
2. Track the ITR-V receipt status
If you have opted to verify the ITR by sending signed copy of ITR-V then you must continuously track the receipt status of ITR-V at CPC, as you will get an alert for non-receipt of ITR-V due to postal loss. Once Central Processing Unit Bangalore receives your ITR-V form, it dispatches an email acknowledging the receipt of ITR-V which should reach you within a month of sending ITR-V to CPC Bangalore.
There are a number of ways to check whether CPC Bangalore received your ITR-V form or not. These are:
3. Track the intimation status
After e-verification of ITR, wait for around one month to get the intimation from IT department under section 143(1). You will receive another email from IT department once your income tax return gets processed. This email is called Intimation under section u/s 143(1). Intimation tells you the details about your total TDS deducted, total tax paid, and deductions, if any.
In intimation, you will also find information about any difference between the amount of income, deductions, income tax payable, TDS or income tax paid by in you in your tax return with respect to amount which income tax officer computed u/s 143(1). The same is reflected in the following 2 columns of intimation:
a. Income tax as provided by taxpayer in return of income
b. Income tax payable as computed by income tax office u/s 143(1)
Analysing intimation u/s 143 (1) is of great importance as it will tell you whether the IT department has accepted the details furnished by you in your income tax return as is or whether it differs in the tax calculations of income reported by you. In such a case, you may have to take corrective actions. Consequently you will also get to know whether you are entitled for any income tax refund or if you are liable to pay any more taxes.
4. Pay additional tax if the intimation specifies so:
If the Intimation Received u/s 143(1) specifies that the tax paid by you is less than what is computed by the IT department then this intimation becomes Notice of Demand u/s 156.
For example, if you have paid income tax of Rs 500,000 while the IT department computed your income tax as Rs 530,000 then it will be treated as fall of tax paid. In such case, if you feel that the IT department computation is correct then you can pay the short fall amount and if you think that there is a mistake then you will have to prove your case as per the necessary procedure.
5. Track income tax refund status
In case the income tax paid is more than what is computed by the IT department then the taxpayer is entitled for tax refund. From this year onwards, the refund will be directly deposited in the bank account mentioned in income tax return. The tax refund status can be checked by logging to the account at www.incometaxindiae-filing.gov.in. Alternatively the same can also be checked at https://tin.tin.nsdl.com/oltas/refundstatuslogin.html, after the ITR gets processed.
6. Make sure to keep income tax records:
Even if you are done with filing of income tax return, it is very important to keep record of all the paper work safely as legal proceedings under the income tax act can be initiated within a span of six years and therefore keep all income tax related documents safely for at least seven years. Following records are advisable to be kept for future references.
Illustration: Uttam Ghosh/Rediff.com
mytaxcafe.com helps people e-file their income tax returns