7 Things to Note Before You File Your Tax Return
Income tax filing is necessary for all taxpayers. As per the Income Tax Act, 1961. You have to file your return by 31st July of every financial year if you are an individual and by 31st September if you are a businessman. Individuals who are less than 60 years of age and whose gross total income is more than Rs 2.5 Lakh are exempt from income tax. Similarly, senior citizens (age between 60 & 80 years) and super senior citizens (age more than 80 years) are exempt from income tax if their income does not exceed Rs 3 Lakh and Rs 5 Lakh respectively.
You have to be very careful if you are filing your returns for the first time. Here are the few things to note before you file your tax return.
1. ITR Filing
There is two way to file your return either online or offline. You can file your return offline only if you are more than 80 years old. In other cases, you can file your returns through government e-filing websites or by visiting several other e-filing intermediary websites. E-filing of return is quick and easy and it also reduces the probabilities of mistake.
2. Choose the right ITR Form
There are seven ITR forms available for filing this assessment year. You have to choose the right ITR form for filing based on your tax situation.
- Form ITR 1 (Sahaj form) is applicable if you are a resident individual with income up to Rs 50 Lakh and your sources of income are from salary or pension, one house property and income from other sources.
- Form ITR 2 is applicable if you are an individual or a HUF and your income does not fall under the head of “profits and gains from business and profession”.
- Form ITR 3 is applicable to you if you have income from business or profession but opted for the presumptive scheme.
- Form ITR 4 is applicable if you are an individual, a HUF, firm and your source of income are from business or profession, salary or pension, income from other sources, etc.
- Form ITR 5 is applicable to firms, Limited Liability Partnerships (LLP), Body of Individuals (BoI), Association of Persons (AOP) etc.
- ITR 6 is applicable to all the companies except the ones who claim exemption u/s 11.
- Form ITR 7 is applicable for persons including companies who furnish return u/s 139(4A), 139(4B), 139(4C), 139(4D), 139(4E) and 139(4F). If you have chosen wrong ITR Form the ITD will not accept your form. So we careful while selecting your ITR Form.
3. Link Your Aadhaar with PAN
It is an important document to file an income tax return. It is mandatory that every taxpayer must link their Aadhaar with PAN. You will not be able to file your return if your Aadhaar is not linked with PAN. You have to mention your Aadhaar card number in the ITR Form to file your return. If you don’t have aadhaar card, and you have to apply for it then you have to mention the Enrolment ID in the ITR Form.
After successfully submitting the Aadhaar enrolment form, you will receive an acknowledgement slip which has Aadhaar Enrolment ID. It is a 14 digit enrolment ID is followed by the date and time during which you had submitted your application.
4. Mention all bank accounts
You need to mention all your bank accounts held at any time during the previous year while filing the tax return. However, you are not required to mention the in-operative bank account which is not in working conditions for the past 3 financial years.
5. Mention your Interest Income
Everyone has their bank accounts and fixed deposits account. Few of us have post office savings account. Interest earned on fixed deposits and savings bank account should be added on your total income while filing taxes. Most of the taxpayers don’t mention their interest income as they think that TDS is already being deducted by the bank. Even though TDS got deducted from your income, still you have to disclose your interest income in the ITR. This can be claimed as a deduction from your total income to bring down your taxable income.
6. Claim your deductions
As per the Income Tax Act, 1961, you can claim various deductions from your total income u/s 80C, 80CCC, 80CCD, 80D, etc. Deduction u/s 80C is available on certain popular investment schemes. Here you can claim deduction of up to Rs 1.5 Lakh. Deduction u/s 80CCC is available for insurance premium. Deduction u/s 80CCD is available on pension contribution and deduction u/s 80D is available on medical insurance. Here you can claim deduction up to Rs 25,000.
7. Verify your return either online or offline
After successfully submitting your returns, the next step is verification. There are two ways to verify your return i.e online and offline method. You can e-verify your return using the government website. It can also be done via net banking, bank account number, Aadhaa card and demat account. In the offline method, you will receive a verification email from the income tax department on your register email ID. Download the form, take a print out of the form and sign it with blue ink. Send the signed form to CPC office, Banglore. You have to verify your return within 120 days.
