ITR Time : How To File IT Returns
Its tax time! Well, no really 'tax' time, but the time to 'prove' that you have paid tax. And the fancy name for this is "filing Income Tax Returns". For most of us, its a dreaded process. A pain-in-the-neck phenomenon.
It was a nightmare for me too... until I filed my returns this year. All by Myself!
Voila. I consider that an achievement. And the main lakshya of this post is to boast of it.
And a side-lakshya to inspire a few of you to do it on your own.
At the place where you work, you may find those tax consultants, sitting in a stall with the ever-so-boring looking on face, but eager to help - solely coz of the fact that a 10-min job is gonna earn them bucks in the range 120 to 300. (Here, they charge 199)
Lemme tell ya, its one simple thing to do. For those who havent yet delved into the stock market, and the sole source of income is what the company gives you, its just a matter of half an hour!
You fall into the ITR1 category.
Here is the categorization: https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/portal/selectforms.do
All you need to do is, download an excel utility from the income tax website:
https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/portal/downloads.do
(Note that this is assessment year 2008-2009. I initially goofed this up and wasted quite some time to kick out the wrong form and re-fill the right one)
Your Form16 is the only thing that you need to fill up this excel utility.
You can find 3 work-sheets in the excel sheet. You need to ensure that the 'macro's are enabled in excel. The govt is smart. They have given a detailed pdf documentation which will help you in filling up the excel utility. But a lil smartness from our end is required to figure out, where this help-pdf is :-P
It is here: https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/portal/downloads07-08/itr/user_guide/itr1_excel_guide.pdf
(they have put it in the 2007-2008 assessment year webpage, and not given it for 2008-2009!)
One place where you may get stuck is the "Designation of the Assessing Officer".
For Bangalore, find the info here:
http://www.incometaxbangalore.org/jurisdiction/juri_indiv_sal_blr.htm
Each work-sheet in the excel has a 'validate' button. Use this button to check if you have not filled up any column. Validation is required for all the 3 sheets. Once you are done with it, click on 'Generate xml'. And you get an xml file in your working directory.
Now create a login ID for yourself at the IT website:
https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/portal/register.do?screen=registerPage1
In some rare cases, you may NOT be able to register here :-) But its RARE!
(For this reason, better do this step first, before doing any filling ups)
After you have logged in, click on 'Submit return' in the left panel.
You will be prompted to upload the xml file.
Upload it.
You dont have a digital signature yet (by all chances). So dont select that radio button.
(If you had your digital signature, then E-filing is done, at this step!)
When the uploading is completed, you will get instructions on where to find your ITR-V.
Download it, print 2 copies, sign on 'em.
Take these 2 copies to your nearest IT office and get it stamped.
Ho gaya !!!
Steps in Summary:
1. Go to IT site and register yourself using your PAN number
2. Fill up the excel utility (use form16 for reference) and generate the xml file
3. Upload the xml file to the IT site, in your login.
4. Get the ITR-V, download it, print it, sign on it.
5. Go with it to the IT office and get it stamped.
(The printed ITR-V should be stamped at the IT office within 15 days)
For ITR2, the process is going to be the same, except that you may have to fill up a few extra sections in the excel utility!
Dont wait!
Finish it off by yourself!
And save some hard-earned money.
(Inflation Demon is already eating it up big-time!)
Update (July22, 2008): More on "Registering into IT Website" here
Update (July29, 2008): You can now submit your ITRV for stamping at Queens Road office too ! The info I got is that from July25 to July31, all IT offices will do ITR-V stamping. One of my colleagues who went to Queens Road on Monday (yday) said that its 5min job. No queue, no waiting, no delay !
Update (July30, 2008): You can do e-filing till July 31, 2008. And you have 15 days to submit your ITR-V to the IT office. That means, even if you complete your Excel-xml formality and get your ITR-V printed out from the IT website, you have 15 more days to get it stamped at the IT office.
Tail:
There are a few other advantages of filing your returns all by yourself.
1. You understand to a small extent, bits n pieces of the tax machinery functioning.
2. You feel a lil bit of pride (oh yes! u can boast of it :D )
3. And most importantly, You would see that BIG number and say "Holy **** !!! I paid so much of tax this year?!!"
4. The last date for filing the returns is July31, 2008.
5. Where to submit the filled up ITR-V ? Generally all the IT offices would accept the ITR-V. But as of now when I'm writing this post, in Bangalore, they accept only at the GangaNagar, Bellary Road Office. The other offices (Queens Road etc..) will start accepting towards the last days of submission. For acomplete list of IT offices in Bangalore, with contact numbers, check here:
http://incometaxbangalore.org/jurisdiction/add_blr.htm
6. Keep in mind. When you go to the IT Office to get the ITRV stamped, you should go with TWO signed ITRV forms. One is for them. One is for you to take back, after stamping.
7. In case you have a refund, you need to fill up the relevant sections in the excel utility. If you are wondering where to get the MICR number from, check your cheque leaf. Its that number at the bottom, which remains constant in all the cheque leaves!
8. Do you need to go in person with your ITRV form to IT Office ? NO! You can simply hand it over to a friend who is going. No authorization of any sort is needed.
9. Do you need to carry your Form16 along with you to IT Office while going for ITRV stamping ? NO! All you need to carry is 2 copies of signed ITRV forms. Carry your PAN card and a copy of it too, just in case they ask for it. But take my word, they WONT ask for it :)
It was a nightmare for me too... until I filed my returns this year. All by Myself!
Voila. I consider that an achievement. And the main lakshya of this post is to boast of it.
And a side-lakshya to inspire a few of you to do it on your own.
At the place where you work, you may find those tax consultants, sitting in a stall with the ever-so-boring looking on face, but eager to help - solely coz of the fact that a 10-min job is gonna earn them bucks in the range 120 to 300. (Here, they charge 199)
Lemme tell ya, its one simple thing to do. For those who havent yet delved into the stock market, and the sole source of income is what the company gives you, its just a matter of half an hour!
You fall into the ITR1 category.
Here is the categorization: https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/portal/selectforms.do
All you need to do is, download an excel utility from the income tax website:
https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/portal/downloads.do
(Note that this is assessment year 2008-2009. I initially goofed this up and wasted quite some time to kick out the wrong form and re-fill the right one)
Your Form16 is the only thing that you need to fill up this excel utility.
You can find 3 work-sheets in the excel sheet. You need to ensure that the 'macro's are enabled in excel. The govt is smart. They have given a detailed pdf documentation which will help you in filling up the excel utility. But a lil smartness from our end is required to figure out, where this help-pdf is :-P
It is here: https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/portal/downloads07-08/itr/user_guide/itr1_excel_guide.pdf
(they have put it in the 2007-2008 assessment year webpage, and not given it for 2008-2009!)
One place where you may get stuck is the "Designation of the Assessing Officer".
For Bangalore, find the info here:
http://www.incometaxbangalore.
Each work-sheet in the excel has a 'validate' button. Use this button to check if you have not filled up any column. Validation is required for all the 3 sheets. Once you are done with it, click on 'Generate xml'. And you get an xml file in your working directory.
Now create a login ID for yourself at the IT website:
https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/portal/register.do?screen=registerPage1
In some rare cases, you may NOT be able to register here :-) But its RARE!
(For this reason, better do this step first, before doing any filling ups)
After you have logged in, click on 'Submit return' in the left panel.
You will be prompted to upload the xml file.
Upload it.
You dont have a digital signature yet (by all chances). So dont select that radio button.
(If you had your digital signature, then E-filing is done, at this step!)
When the uploading is completed, you will get instructions on where to find your ITR-V.
Download it, print 2 copies, sign on 'em.
Take these 2 copies to your nearest IT office and get it stamped.
Ho gaya !!!
Steps in Summary:
1. Go to IT site and register yourself using your PAN number
2. Fill up the excel utility (use form16 for reference) and generate the xml file
3. Upload the xml file to the IT site, in your login.
4. Get the ITR-V, download it, print it, sign on it.
5. Go with it to the IT office and get it stamped.
(The printed ITR-V should be stamped at the IT office within 15 days)
For ITR2, the process is going to be the same, except that you may have to fill up a few extra sections in the excel utility!
Dont wait!
Finish it off by yourself!
And save some hard-earned money.
(Inflation Demon is already eating it up big-time!)
Update (July22, 2008): More on "Registering into IT Website" here
Update (July29, 2008): You can now submit your ITRV for stamping at Queens Road office too ! The info I got is that from July25 to July31, all IT offices will do ITR-V stamping. One of my colleagues who went to Queens Road on Monday (yday) said that its 5min job. No queue, no waiting, no delay !
Update (July30, 2008): You can do e-filing till July 31, 2008. And you have 15 days to submit your ITR-V to the IT office. That means, even if you complete your Excel-xml formality and get your ITR-V printed out from the IT website, you have 15 more days to get it stamped at the IT office.
Tail:
There are a few other advantages of filing your returns all by yourself.
1. You understand to a small extent, bits n pieces of the tax machinery functioning.
2. You feel a lil bit of pride (oh yes! u can boast of it :D )
3. And most importantly, You would see that BIG number and say "Holy **** !!! I paid so much of tax this year?!!"
4. The last date for filing the returns is July31, 2008.
5. Where to submit the filled up ITR-V ? Generally all the IT offices would accept the ITR-V. But as of now when I'm writing this post, in Bangalore, they accept only at the GangaNagar, Bellary Road Office. The other offices (Queens Road etc..) will start accepting towards the last days of submission. For acomplete list of IT offices in Bangalore, with contact numbers, check here:
http://incometaxbangalore.org/jurisdiction/add_blr.htm
6. Keep in mind. When you go to the IT Office to get the ITRV stamped, you should go with TWO signed ITRV forms. One is for them. One is for you to take back, after stamping.
7. In case you have a refund, you need to fill up the relevant sections in the excel utility. If you are wondering where to get the MICR number from, check your cheque leaf. Its that number at the bottom, which remains constant in all the cheque leaves!
8. Do you need to go in person with your ITRV form to IT Office ? NO! You can simply hand it over to a friend who is going. No authorization of any sort is needed.
9. Do you need to carry your Form16 along with you to IT Office while going for ITRV stamping ? NO! All you need to carry is 2 copies of signed ITRV forms. Carry your PAN card and a copy of it too, just in case they ask for it. But take my word, they WONT ask for it :)
posted by Rat at 5:51 PM
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