Income Tax Return

An Income tax return is a statement of income from all sources over a financial year. Income tax return filing in India is for everyone who has an income or has earned money in one financial year. As per the current rules, it is mandatory for those individuals who have earned a net (after all the non taxable deductions) of more than 2.5lakhs, to file a tax return. Below this minimum amount, ITR filing in India is not compulsory but is beneficial if the individual does so. The tax paid to the government is a percentage of the net earnings but it is not a fixed percentage. Instead, there are three slabs on the basis of which the tax on the net income is calculated.

Who needs to file income tax return?

A person who has earned his money in India needs to file the IT return and pay taxes as applicable. This applies to Indians, both residents and non residents as well as foreign nations. There are some more rules and regulations regarding the residency status of an individual which is right now beyond the scope of this article. There is a difference in ITR filing in India and actually paying tax. While Income Tax return filing in India is a must for all, the tax is only paid by those whose income is above the minimum threshold over a financial year. Apart from individuals, companies, business houses, Hindu Undivided Family (HUF), Associations etc too are liable to Income Tax Return filing in India. The Practicalities of Income Tax Return Filing in India For ITR filing in India, it is important to be methodical and have detailed information regarding the income from different sources over the preceding financial year. It is also important to know the various schemes through which tax can be saved. Tax is charged on the difference between the total value of earnings and the money saved through various tax saving instruments. To ease Income Tax Return Filing in India, the income tax department has broadly classified the income into five sources -

• Salary or pension
• House or property which is mostly rental
• Capital gains which is from selling of property, stocks, mutual funds etc,
• Business which is applicable to those like self employed people, tution teachers, contractors, insurance agents, doctors, lawyers and others who do not have affixed monthly salary.
• Other sources like interest on savings account, winning a lottery or money won in competition.

Therefore Income Tax return filing in India is a complex task. For a very long time, Income Tax Return Filing in India was done manually. The individuals needed to get the required forms from the IT offices and then fill them up. All the calculations too were done manually. This was a time consuming process an often more than just one form was used because of the mistakes made. The whole process of Income Tax Return Filing in India has now been digitized and the government made it mandatory for all the taxpayers to file their returns online. There are some taxpayers for whom online Income Tax Return filing in India is not compulsory and these include those aged above 80years and those whose income is less than 5 lakhs and are not claiming refund. Earlier tax payers had to pay and use the services of a consultant to file their returns when they were lost in the manual forms. These days, the taxpayers can utilize the free ITR efiling in India.

Benefits of Online Income Tax Return Filing in India

Income Tax Return filing in India is now made more user friendly with the entire process being digitized. The individual just needs to log on the website and utilize the services of free ITR efiling in India. It not only saves individuals time and money but also speeds up the entire taxation process. With online Income Tax return filing in India, individuals can keep a track of their return and get the acknowledgement of submission immediately. They can also check the status of their refund etc online. With free ITR efiling in India it is hoped that more people can be made accountable by the taxman.

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