It’s July and one thing that is on everyone’s mind is the filing of tax returns. The Income tax department has taken several steps to ease the process and increase compliance. Some of the technology initiatives that have been undertaken by the tax department include e-payment of taxes, simplified tax return forms, e-verification of ITR-V, e-assessments etc.

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In addition, the tax department’s digital communication via regular e-mails, text messages and advertisements has increased awareness amongst taxpayers.

Nowadays, one should not feel hesitant in filing their income tax returns. There are several websites which also helps you filing your returns with ease.

Amarpal S Chadha, partner and India Mobility leader, Ernst & Young LLP said that all these initiatives and the focus on unaccounted money have increased the taxpayer base, with the number of e-returns filed increasing to 5.28 Crore in the financial year 2016-17 from last year's 4 Crore approximately. “As tax authorities move towards greater digitisation, taxpayers should follow the developments closely to ensure compliance and hassle-free correspondence with the tax authorities,” he said.

The tax department has introduced several new features to ease down the process and reduce the complexity in filing returns.

Here are five reasons how the filing of ITR has become easy and a quick process:

Easy to register:

If it is your first time or you want to file your tax returns on your own, create your login ID on ITR filing website. It is simple, you just need to have your PAN card along with you and after that, you need to follow the steps one after the other. Once it is done, you can file your returns hassle-free.

Pre-fill text option:

Over the years, the tax return forms have been re-worked for individual taxpayers. Also, additional features like the pre-fill option of the tax returns with personal information and tax details as available in the tax department’s database is a good help. Divya Baweja, partner, Deloitte India, “Digitization has eased the onerous process of manual feeding of personal information and income/tax details. “Data already available with the tax authorities in the form of PAN and Form 26AS can be pre-populated in returns filed through ITR 1,” she said.

Pay digitally:

With the introduction of e-payment, the tax can be paid anytime and anywhere. The tax department has also introduced a link in the tax return form which takes the taxpayers directly to the portal for e-payment of taxes in order to ease the process for taxpayers.

E-verification of tax returns:

Verifying your tax return form has become uncomplicated. Even if you file your tax using other tax filing website, the clearing of ITR form is just a two-step process when it comes to finally verifying it at the income tax filing portal that is, visiting incometaxindia.gov.in website. Further, with the introduction of e-verification, taxpayers are no longer required to send a signed ITR-V to the Centralized Processing Centre, thus turning the whole process of verification of returns paperless and instant.

“Additionally e-verification facility through Aadhaar has done away with manual verification. Overall, one can see the benefit of digitization in the form of simplification of process and reduced timelines for filing the return,” said Baweja.

E-assessment of tax returns:

“Another major revamp the tax department has undertaken in the recent times is the move to e-assessments. Notices are now sent to taxpayers via e-mail and responses are also furnished online at the choice of the taxpayer (depending on the complexity). The aim is to reduce the processing time as well as human intervention,” said Chadha.

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Source: Moneycontrol.com