Special IT Return Receipt Counters for Salaried Tax Payers With Income Upto Rs. 5 Lakh.

      The CBDT has, vide notification dated 1-05-2013, made E-filing of Return compulsory for Assessment Year 2013-14 for persons having total assessable income exceeding Five lakh rupees.
 
           The CBDT vide its earlier notifications had exempted salaried employees having total income upto Rs. 5 lakhs including income from other sources upto Rs. 10,000/- from the requirement of filing return of income for assessment year 2011-12 and 2012-13 respectively. The exemption was available only for the assessment year 2011-12 and 2012-13. The exemption was giving considering ‘paper filing of returns’ and their ‘processing through manual entry’ on system.
 
           However, this year the facility for online filing of returns has been made user-friendly with the advantage of pre-filled return forms. These E-filed forms also get electronically processed at the central processing centre in a speedy manner. Hence, the exemption provided during the last two years is not being extended for assessment year 2013-14. Taxpayers are encouraged to file their returns electronically. E-filing is an easy, fast and secure method of filing of income tax return. Moreover, Digital signature is not mandatory for these taxpayers and they can transmit the data in the return electronically by downloading ITRs, or by online filing and thereafter submit the verification of the return in From ITR-V acknowledgement after signature to Central Processing Centre. The processing for E-filed returns is faster.

Govt. urges Tax Payers to disclose true income & pay Tax.

   Government Once again urges all Tax Payers to Disclose their true income and pay Appropriate Taxes within the Current Financial Year;

   Nodal Cell set up to Capture the Response and take Follow-up Action; an Online Monitoring System to Ensure Follow-up Action and Track Return Filing and Tax Payment of the Target Segment.

   The Union Finance Minister Shri P. Chidambaram has repeatedly emphasized that there is need for a non–intrusive tax administration to enable the tax payer to file his return and pay appropriate taxes.

   In the statement made by the Revenue Secretary to the media on 10th December 2012, he had stated that there is no advantage in suppressing the true income or avoiding paying income tax that is due because, sooner or later, the information available with the Income Tax Department will lead the department to the doors of such persons.

   The Directorate of Systems of the Income Tax Department has undertaken a business intelligence project to identify PAN holders who have not filed Income Tax Return and about whom specific information is available in 148 information codes of Annual Information Return (AIR), Central Information Branch (CIB) data and TDS/TCS Returns. Information in the Cash Transaction Reports (CTRs) of FIU-IND has also been included as part of this data matching exercise. This data analysis has identified target segment of 12,19,832 non-filers linked to more than 4.7 crore information records. Rule based algorithms have been used to identify high priority cases for follow-up and monitoring.

   In the first batch, letters are being sent to 35,170 PAN holders by the Directorate of Intelligence and Criminal Investigation. The letter contains the summary of the information of financial transaction(s) along with a customized response sheet and seeks to know whether the person had filed his Income Tax return or not. A Nodal cell has been set up to capture the response and take follow-up action. There will be an online monitoring system to ensure follow-up action and track return filing and tax payment of the target segment.

   The Government would once again urge all tax payers to disclose their true income and pay appropriate taxes within the current financial year.

Source:http://taxguru.in/income-tax/govt-urges-tax-payers-disclose-true-income-pay-taxes.html

Web Based Status Tracking Facility Launched to Check Corruption in Income Tax Refunds.

   Instances of alleged corruption for settlement of refund claims and complaints come to notice from time to time. Whenever any such instance or complaints comes to notice, the same is verified and if it is found to be correct, the concerned officers/officials have to face penal consequences depending on the facts and circumstances of the case.

   The process of issue of refunds has been streamlined in the course of computerization and encouraging e-filing of returns for speedy processing and issue of refunds through refund banker scheme. A web based status tracking facility for refunds has also been launched. The grievance redressal mechanism has been strengthened for ensuring prompt disposal of all such complaints.

'Refund Banker Scheme' - Check your Income Tax Refund status through online.

   The Income Tax Department has already  introduced the provision to know the status of Income Tax Refund through online. As shown in the official website of TIN-NSDL you can verify the status of refund for the assessment year 2003-04 to 2013-14. Taxpayers can view status of refund 10 days after their refund has been sent by the Assessing Officer to the Refund Banker - by entering 'PAN' and 'Assessment Year' in the prescribed place of the webpage. The details are given for recollecting the information...

Tax Information Network of
Income Tax Department

REFUND STATUS

Refund Banker

   The 'Refund Banker Scheme,' which commenced from 24th Jan 2007, is now operational for taxpayers assessed all over India (except at Large Taxpayer Units) and for returns processed at CPC (Centralized Processing Centre) of the Income Tax Department at Bangalore.

   In the 'Refund Banker Scheme' the refunds generated on processing of Income tax Returns by the Assessing officers/ CPC-Bangalore are transmitted to State Bank of India, CMP branch, Mumbai (Refund Banker) on the next day  of processing for further distribution to taxpayers.

Due Date of E-Filing of Income Tax Returns for Assessment Year 2012-13 Extended up to 31st August, 2012.

   On consideration of the reports of disturbance of general life caused due to failure of power and further in consideration of the fact that the e-filing of returns for a specified category of individuals and HUF has been made mandatory, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), in exercise of powers conferred under section 119 of the Income Tax Act, 1961, has extended the ‘due date’ of filing of returns of income for the Assessment Year 2012-13 to 31st August 2012. This has been done in respect of assesses who are liable to file such returns by 31st July 2012 as per provisions of section 139 of Income Tax Act, 1961 .

Income Tax Department Starts Two More Taxpayer Friendly Initiatives : ‘Register for Home Visit’ and ‘Online Tax Help’

   In order to make the Income Tax Return filing experience even more convenient, the Income Tax Department has started two more taxpayer friendly initiatives ‘Register for Home Visit’ and ‘Online Tax Help’. To avail these facilities, a taxpayer must visit the website www.trpscheme.com and take help of trained professionals either online or at their homes. The taxpayer can choose between ‘online help’ or ‘home visit’.

   On choosing the option of online tax help, the taxpayer can fill in his tax related query along with his contact details. The online query will be resolved by tax experts through Email or Phone within 24 hours.

E-filing of Income Tax Return – Frequently Asked Questions.

It’s time to file your Income Tax Return for the year 2011-12 (Assessment Year 2012-13). The last date for filing ITR for this year has been fixed as 31st July 2012.

Sl. No.	Questions	Answer
1.	What is e-Filing of Returns?	Filing of Income Tax returns is a legal obligation of every person whose total income for the previous year has exceeded the maximum amount that is not chargeable to income tax under the provisions of the I.T Act, 1961. Income Tax Department has introduced a convenient way to file these returns online using the Internet. The process of electronically filing your Income tax returns through the Internet is known as e-filing of returns.
2.	How is e-Filing different from the regular filing of returns?	E-filing offers convenience of time and place to tax payers. This facility is available round the clock and returns could be filed from any place in the world. It also eliminates/ reduces interface between assessee and tax officials. The procedure of e- filing is explained on the home page of the website.
3.	What are the steps in brief to upload the tax returns on this website?	Visit ITD e-filing website incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in Select appropriate type of Return Form based on Sources of Income and status of taxpayer. Download the excel based utility from the ITD e-filing website. Fill your return offline in the downloaded excel sheet and generate a XML file. Register your PAN on the ITD e-filing website, if you are using it for the first time. User id / Login id will be the PAN itself. After successful registration an activation link will be sent to your registered email id. Upon activation you can avail various facilities available on e-filing website including submission of income tax return. After login, click on “Submit Return”. Select the AY and type of form to be uploaded. Browse to select XML file for uploading in the ITD e-filing website and click on “Upload” button. On successful upload, acknowledgement details would be displayed. Click on “Download” to download the acknowledgement i.e. ITR-V Form for the taxpayers, who are not using digital signature. This is an acknowledgement cum verification form. The tax payer has to print and duly sign the same and send it to “Income Tax Department – CPC, Post Bag No – 1, Electronic City Post Office, Bengaluru – 560100, Karnataka” within 120 days of uploading the return on the ITD e-filing website by ordinary post or speed post only. Upon receipt of the ITR-V, the ITD will send an e-mail acknowledging the receipt of ITR-V to the email id entered in the return form. No Form ITR-V shall be received in any other office of the Income-tax Department or in any other manner. This completes the return filing process for non-digitally signed returns. For the taxpayers using digital signature for uploading the form, taxpayer has to register the DSC before uploading the return. In these cases, no ITR-V will be generated. Website will generate ”Acknowledgement” instead and return will be treated as filed. Taxpayer may take a printout of the “Acknowledgement” for his/her record.
4.	I have forgotten my password. What is to be done to retrieve it ?	Click on the forget password link from the login page in ITD e-filing website. In the password reset page, one of the following can be selected by the taxpayers: Enter the answer to the secret question, taxpayer has entered in the registration details. OR Enter the A.Y. and acknowledgement number of any of earlier e-filed return by the taxpayer since A.Y. 2007-08 Enter the new password twice and also the CAPTCHA CODE appearing on the screen. Click on Reset Password to reset the password of your user id. Further if do not have either, send a email request from registered email-id, which taxpayer has entered in the registration profile, to validate@incometaxindia.gov.in having following details PAN, Name of the assessee as appearing in the PAN card, Date of Birth / Date of incorporation, Name of the Father as appearing in the PAN card Address Mobile number Registered email id. The ITD will send its response via email.
5.	What to do if there is an "INTERNAL ERROR" at the time of registration?	Kindly try again and if the problem persist, kindly send a email request to efiling@incometaxindia.gov.in with the following details required for registration PAN First Name Middle Name Last Name Date of Birth/Date of Incorporation Father’s First Name Father’s Middle Name Father’s Last Name Address Phone Email id
6.	In case, taxpayer has entered the wrong email-id during registration and taxpayer is not able to activate its user id, what is to be done by taxpayer to activate the account ?	Kindly send an e-mail request to validate@incometaxindia.gov.infor activation of your user-id with the following details required for registration PAN First Name Middle Name Last Name Date of Birth/Date of Incorporation Father’s First Name Father’s Middle Name Father’s Last Name Address Phone Email id Once the user-id is activated by the ITD, kindly login on the ITD e-filing website and go to My Account to update the email-id, mobile number, answer to the secret question etc. to avoid this problem in future.
7.	Can a LEGAL HEIR file the return of the deceased assessee for compulsory DSC cases ?	Yes. First, the legal heir has to obtain a DSC in his own capacity. The DSC of the legal heir, so obtained can be registered in the ITD e-filing website as follows: The details of Legal heir and the deceased assessee, such as : PAN First Name Middle Name Last Name Date of Birth Father’s First Name Father’s Middle Name Father’s Last Name Mobile Number have to be sent through e-mail to efiling.administrator@incometaxindia.gov.inalong with the documentary evidences (in scanned format) i.e. death certificate of the deceased assessee. After receiving these details by the e-filing administrator, the Legal heir’s PAN will be linked to the deceased assessee and a confirmation email will be sent to email id of the Legal heir and then only, the return of the deceased assessee can be filed electronically by Legal heir.
8.	My Challan of payment of Advance Tax or Self Assessment Tax does not contain correct PAN or Assessment Year. Will the claim be allowed?	No. You are advised to get it corrected by making written request to Branch of Bank from where payment has been made upto 15 days of payment and thereafter to your Assessing Officer. Detailed challan correction mechanism is available at ChallanCorrectionMechanism_26082011.pdf
9.	If the last date of filing falls on Saturday or Sunday or Public Holiday and Income Tax Department is closed on these days, can subsequent Monday be treated as "Last date of Filing"?	Yes, if Income Tax Department is closed on these days. Otherwise, No.
10.	The Assessing Officer (AO) designation and code as per 'Know your PAN' is different from Jurisdictional AO that I know?	Please apply before the jurisdictional Assessing officer to initiate the process of acquiring PAN by Jurisdictional Assessing Officer.
11.	How can taxpayer find his Assessing Officer (AO) Code?	Click on ”Know your Jurisdiction” Sub Menu under ”Services”menu on the home page of ITD e-filing website.
12.	How can I come to know about TAN of my deductor?	Kindly refer to Form 16 or Form 16A issued by the employer for the TAN number. You can also see the details of deductor in the 26AS Tax credit statement made available by the NSDL in its website, which can be easily accessed through ITD e-filing website.
13.	How do I know whether my e-return is being processed at CPC Bangalore or the Assessing Officer.	The taxpayer is advised to login to the website using his/her userid and password and select the sub menu option ‘CPC Processing Status’ under the menu option ‘Services’ on the homepage of ITD e-filing website to check the status of return for a given assessment year.
14.	What are the due dates for filing of returns for non-corporate and corporate tax payers?	As per the provisions of section 139 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 the due dates for filing of returns of income for different category of assessees are as under: For all Corporate assessees and all such non corporate assessee, whose accounts are required to be audited, including working partners of such firms, the….. 30th Sept. of the Astt.Year. For such corporate assessee which is required to furnish a report u/s 92E of the I T Act, 1961, the 30th Nov. of the Astt.Year. For any other assessees, the 31st July of the Astt.Year.
15.	Is it mandatory for all firms to file their return electronically?	No. Only those firms, who have to get their accounts audited under 44AB of the Income Tax Act, 1961.
16.	Is it mandatory to file return of income after getting PAN?	No. The liability to file return of income arises only when you have taxable income.
17.	Who can file the return for a deceased assessee?	A legal heir can file the return in such case.
18.	If I have paid excess tax, how and when will it be refunded to me?	To claim the excess paid tax, the assessee has to be file returns of income, irrespective of the fact whether the income is taxable or not. The amount of refund will be remitted to the assessee either through cheque or directly to the back account as mentioned in the ITR form after the processing of the return.

Courtesy: www.gconnect.in