Online tax filing gets easier

Website to assist the salaried class to register, compute and file returns

There's good news for all salaried employees. They can soon do away with the need to consult a chartered accountant or a tax expert to compute their tax liability.

The income tax department today introduced a revamped online registration facility on its website that will allow salaried and middle-income group assessees to register, compute and file their returns online.

Officials told Business Standard that after registering, salaried employees would get an e-mail from the department.

This e-mail, they said, would provide the relevant page of the "Taxmann's Income Tax Ready Reckoner" to help people ascertain their tax liability based on their respective salary brackets. A link will also be provided to a tax calculator to enable users compute their tax liability.

Officials pointed out that though the website already contained a registration mechanism, it did not have authenticating fields to check whether the information provided by taxpayers was correct.

"In the new, revamped registration system, there will be a verification field for permanent account numbers, tax deduction account numbers and telephone numbers. There is a verification for e-mail also," an official said.

"Since very often taxpayers do not know where to get the income tax forms from, registering on the site will help them obtain a PAN pre-printed challan by e-mail," he said.

Officials said all income tax-related forms would be available on the website in both "doc" and "pdf" format to enable people to download or fill the forms online.

E-mails will also be sent to taxpayers, informing them of the due dates for filing returns, latest circulars, notifications and other tax-related matters.

Officials pointed out that details provided by those who register would be solely used for sending information relevant to their profile. It would not be put to any other use in the income tax department, they added.

In addition, the department is also considering extending the facilities of the aaykar sampark kendra or a call centre facility to help assessees in obtaining and filing returns.

The revamped registration facility has been introduced keeping in mind that returns are to be filed by salaried employees by July 31.