Procedure of Income Tax Filing In India

Filing for income tax returns in India can be confusing for some. Since it is a mandatory process this article will explain you the ITR filing procedure under taxation policy in India in the simplest way.
To begin with the basics, an income tax return is the tax form utilized ITR filing with the Income Tax Department. The tax return is normally in a predefined worksheet format where the income figures used to determine the tax liability are transcribed into the documents.
The law states that individual or business that receive income during the year must file ITR annually, whether through regular income (wages), bonuses, interest, capital gains or other sources. Tax returns, of an individual or a business, must be filed by a specific date without any fail.
In any of the subsequent cases, the Income Tax Department has made it compulsory to e-file your Return. Paper returns can only be filed by those who are above 80 years of age. Individuals or HUF whose income does not exceed 5,00,000 INR and who haven’t claimed a refund in the return of income can also file paper returns.

1. Who is required to file income tax returns?

If you fall in any of the subsequent criteria under Taxation policy in India, then you must file an income tax return:

1. Less than 60 years of age and your total annual income exceeds 2,50,000 INR.
2. Senior citizen i.e. 60 years or above and below 80 years of age, and your total annual gross income surpasses 3,00,000 INR.
3. Super senior citizen i.e. 80 years or above and your total annual gross income exceeds 5,00,000 INR.
4. A company or a firm, regardless of profit or loss, filing ITR for the financial year is a requirement.
5. If you are looking forth to claiming a tax refund for the fiscal year.
6. An Indian citizen and act as a signing authority for any foreign account.
7. An Indian citizen and maintain an asset or business interest established outside India.
8. If you have traded equity shares in a company or unit of equity-oriented mutual funds or unit of business trust for more than 2,50,000 INR and have earned tax-exempt long-term capital gains from the same.
9. If you accept any income earned from the trade of a property which had been held under a charitable or religious trust, political party, educational institution, and any other authority, body or trust.
10. A foreign company which has been using any treaty benefit on any deal made in India.
11. An NRI (Non-Resident Indian) but if your cumulative yearly gross income earned or accrued in India exceeds 2,50,000 INR.
12. File ITR if you are looking for a loan. ITR filings are taken as legitimate income proofs. You will need them while opting for any kind of loan.
13. If you do not file an ITR even after falling into any of the preceding criteria, you are liable to respective penalties for the error.
    

2. Mandatory Filing of Return in case of assets stationed outside India

Furnishing of return is compulsory in case of a person who fulfills the following conditions:

1. They are ordinary-residents in India or resident in India and is not under the obligation to furnish return u/s 139
2. Such a person at any time during the P.Y.
   • Someone who holds, as a profitable owner or otherwise, any asset positioned outside India
   • Is a possessor of any asset located outside India
3. However, if an individual is a beneficiary, they wouldn’t be required to file the return of income under this provision, where, `income, if any, resulting from such asset is included in the income of the person referred to above in accordance with the terms of the Income-tax Act,1961
   

3. What is the Due Date for Income Tax Filing In India? The fiscal year 2018-19, AY 2019-20

The last day for filing Income Tax Returns for FY 2018-2019 for Individuals is 31st July 2019. 

Taxpayer Category	Tax Filing Due Date – FY 2018-19
Individual	31st July 2019
Body of Individuals (BOI)	31st July 2019
Hindu Undivided Family (HUF)	31st July 2019
Association of Persons (AOP)	31st July 2019
Businesses (Requiring Audit)	30th September 2019
Businesses (Requiring TP Report)	30th November 2019

4. Documents Needed for Filing Income Tax Returns

According to the Taxation policy in India 31^st July is the final day to file your Income Tax Returns in India in any given financial year. The procedure of Income Tax Filing in India requires some preparation. This is why the Government provides you with four months’ window period to organize all documents like salary/income details, bank statements, previous tax statements, etc.
The procedure varies as per the income earned annually and income source like salary, business profit, investment profit, etc. Collating all your records is just one aspect of it.

1. Choosing the applicable ITR form

Taxpayers have to determine the appropriate ITR form for them in the AY 2019-20.

2. Link Aadhaar with PAN

It is compulsory for taxpayers to link Aadhaar with PAN for the AY 2019-20 on or before the filing of income tax returns.

3. For Salaried Employees

If you are a salaried employee, collect these documents to e-file your income tax returns in India. Go through this list to examine the documents you’ll need to pay your taxes.

• PAN
• Form-16 issued by your employer
• Month-wise salary slips

From the AY 2019-20, it is necessary to gather the data on all taxable allowances received and the amount claimed excluded out of such allowances e.g., house rent allowance, leave travel allowance, etc., and reveal the same in the IT return.

4. Documents related to interest income

• Bank statement or passbook for interest on the savings account.
• Interest income statement for fixed deposits.
• TDS document issued by banks and others.

Clear Tax automatically gives you tax benefit as per Section 80TTA when you register your income from savings account interest. You would not need every document listed here as they vary on a case-by-case basis.

5. Form 26AS

Form 26AS is an outline of taxes deducted on your behalf and taxes paid by you. This is given by the Income Tax Department. It shows aspects of tax deducted on your behalf by deductors, information on tax deposited by taxpayers and tax refund collected in the financial year. You can access the form, from the Income Tax Department’s website.

6. Section 80 Investments

Section 80C investment documents. The investments made under PPF, NSC, ULIPS, ELSS, LIC qualify for deductions under Section 80C.

7. Documents Required to Claim Expenses as Deductions

Keep these documents ready to claim the following expenses as deductions:

• Your supplement to Provident Fund
• Your offspring’s school tuition fees
• Life insurance premium payment
• Stamp-duty and registration charges
• Principal repayment on your home loan
• Equity Linked Savings Scheme/Mutual funds investment
• The highest amount that can be claimed under Section 80C is Rs 1.5 lakhs

  8. Additional Investment Documents

• Interest paid on housing loan: Interest on housing loan is qualified for tax saving up to 2,00,000 for a self-occupied house. For let-out property, there is no limit of interest on housing loan qualified for tax saving till FY 2016-17.
• From FY 2017-18, the total loss from house property available for set off against other income is bound at 2 lakhs INR and accordingly, interest on housing loan is suitable for tax saving up to 2,00,000 INR for let-out a property as well.
• Education loan interest payments.
• Stock trading statement: The stock trades that were produced during the year can possibly be taxed under Capital Gain.

 The Procedure for Filing Income Tax Return In India

Every year it is important to file ITR on time as there exists a late filing fee on overdue ITR filing.
One can fill the ITR form online. This step by step guide will help you file your ITR on time at the ease of your house 

1. Visit the e-filing website: https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/

2. If you are a first-time user or filing your returns for the first time then click on the ‘New Registration’ tab and register yourself by providing important details and creating your profile and password. While creating your user ID, you must ensure that you have an active e-mail id and mobile number and it is cited correctly.

Communication from the Department

It is essential as communication by the department will be sent on this. You can finish the registration by clicking the activation link sent via an email and providing a one-time password (OTP) which you receive on your mobile. Click on the tab ‘Registered User’ if you have already registered yourself on the website. For any help, one can click on the ‘Customer Care’ tab to get the helpline number and contact the customer care centre.

• Next click on the login tab and enter the required details: your User ID i.e. your PAN, password and captcha code. Click on the log-in button at the bottom to sign in.
• After signing in, your account dashboard will show up as displayed in the image below. Click on the ‘e-file’ tab and select the ‘Income Tax Return’ option. Please note that the process of filing returns for FY 2017-18 has some new modifications done by the tax department. Therefore, the image has new screenshots.
• Next, choose the assessment year, i.e., 2018-19, form i.e. either ITR-1 or ITR-4 and then submission mode – “Prepare and Submit Online”. Click on the tab “Continue”. For example, some screenshots of ITR-1 are provided below.
• Here you will also be asked to select the option to verify your returns Three options are provided to verify your returns: a) Via Aadhaar OTP which is valid for 30 minutes, b) Generated EVC option through My Account or Bank ATM that is valid for 72 hours or c) by sending signed copy of ITR-V to, “Centralized Processing Centre, Income Tax Department, Bengaluru – 560500”.

After selecting one of these options, click on “Submit”. You also have a choice to fill your ITR form in Hindi. Select Language “Hindi” if you wish to change your language and then press “Continue”.

• The website will redirect you to the page for filling the form chosen by you. Before starting to fill the ITR form, one should read the ‘General Instructions’ given at the start of the form to know do’s and don’ts.
• After that, you will have to fill in the necessary data in various tabs i.e. ‘General Data’, ‘Revenue Details’, ‘Tax Details’ ‘Taxes Paid and Verification’ and ’80G’ in the ITR form. One should make sure that the Tax payable shown in the online form is the same as your calculations.
• Before finalizing the submission, it is prudent to save the data and recheck it to evade any mistakes. Once you click the ‘Preview and Submit’ button, your form will appear, providing you with a “Preview” of your ITR filing form before completing the final submission.
• Once you click ‘Submit’, your ITR will be uploaded. You will have to verify your return using any of the options available.

Click here to know 6 ways to verify your ITR.

• For FY 2016-17, people had the choice to submit their ITR by utilizing their digital signature. They can select the option to digitally sign their ITR while submitting data of ITR form using which they want to file their return. However, for FY 2017-18, this option is not on display on the e-filing website when you submit the data.

• You can verify your return either electronically using the Aadhaar OTP or Electronic Verification Code method or by the offline method of shipping a signed printout of the ITR V Document to CPC – Centralized Processing Center, Bangalore before 120 days from the date of e-filing.

• You will receive an acknowledgement or an ITR V is simultaneously on your registered email once you upload your return successfully. This acknowledgement will also show up in your account on the e-filing website from where you can download it if required.

• The department processes your ITR on verification by you. After your ITR is processed, you will be intimated about the same via email and SMS on your registered mobile number.
  

Consequences of failure to furnish return of income

Mandatory interest for delayed submission or non-submission of return:
Where an assessee files a return of income after due dates prescribed, interest at the rate of 1% for every month of delay in filing the return will be levied u/s 234A. Starting from the date promptly following the due date and ending on the following dates:

Circumstances Ending of the following dates:

1. Where the return is filed after the due date
2. Where no return has been furnished at the date of completion of the AY

Fee for default in furnishing return of income:

Where a person who is required to furnish a return of income u/1139, fails to do so within the prescribed time limit u/s139(1), he shall pay, by way of fee, a sum of:

1. 5000 INR if they furnish the return on or before 31st December of the A.Y.
2. 10,000 INR in any other case

• However, if the total income of the person does not exceed 5,00,000 INR the fees payable shall not exceed 1,000 INR.

1. Willful failure to furnish return of income may also attract prosecution u/s 276CC. In case, the tax evaded exceeds 1 Lakh INR, there is rigorous imprisonment for a term of a minimum of 6 months and up to 7 years along with fine.
2. If individuals do not file the return, then the best judgment will be taken u/s 144.

Conclusion

We hope the complete process explains you everything about taxation policy in India and ITR Filing as per the standard procedure. In case you need legal or financial assistance please feel free to write to us at contact@taxolawgy.com and our experts will be happy to guide you.