Procedure for Filing Income Tax Return

Simply put, Income Tax refers to the direct tax paid on income, to the government, withina given financial year (April-March).

When the total income of a person from all sources of income exceeds the maximum amountpermissible which is not chargeable to income-tax by the government, then that person is liable to file the Income Tax Return. Section 139(1) of the Income Tax Act was amended a fewyears back with a view to bring a larger number of persons in the tax net. Now if any personsatisfies any one of the following six conditions:

• owns a vehicle
• occupies a specified floor area of an immovable property
• incurs expenditure for himself or for any other person on foreign-travel
• subscribes to a telephone
• subscribes to a Credit Card
• is a Club member

then he/she is required to file an Income Tax Return.

The slabs to file Income Tax Returns vary, depending upon the total income earned during a year and the various exemptions for which the individual/entity is eligible for. In thecase of an assessee earning income primarily from salary, the due date for filing the IncomeTax Return is normally 30th June of the assessment year, unless extended by the Income TaxDepartment.

Individuals can file their Income Tax Returns by filling the requisite forms ITR 1, ITR2, ITR 3 or ITR 4.

The return form, along with copies of necessary supporting documents, has to be filed atthe appropriate income tax office or special counters set up for this purpose, the detailsof which are available on the Income Tax Department website. It isalso mandatory to quote the Permanent Account Number (PAN) while filing the return.

Under Electronic Furnising of Return of Income Scheme, 2004, eligible assessees can filetheir returns of income electronically through persons authorised to act as e-returnintermediaries. The intermediaries digitises the data of such returns and transmit the sameelectronically to the e-filing server of the Income Tax Department under the digitalsignatures.

• Know more about the computation ofIncome for filing the return (External website that opens in a newwindow).
• Click here to download Income Tax Returnforms. (External website that opens in a new window)
• Online Tax Calculator.
• E-Filing of Income Tax Returns.

Frequently AskedQuestions about Filing Tax Returns (External website that opens in anew window).