One lakh four thousand three hundred and fifty seven and counting ? that?s how many people have chosen to file their income tax (I-T) returns electronically in just the first six days of July. Another 20 lakh are expected to follow suit over the next three weeks to the July 31 deadline. Ease of computing and filing returns, receiving verification, and expanding range of services have made the process easier.
Harish Kumar, director, income tax systems-III, said: ?The growth in numbers has been brisk compared to last year. By March 31, 2011, we are expecting 80 lakh returns to be filed electronically compared to around 50 lakh all-India figure last year.? Already this year, 5.5 lakh returns have been e-filed, of which 55,000 were filed through authorised return intermediaries, he added. For the previous fiscal year to March 31, 2010, the department had received 52,52,771 returns electronically.
The I-T department had in 2007 launched the Electronic Furnishing of Return of Income Scheme, which allowed taxpayers to file returns electronically. The department had also then made a provision to appoint intermediaries who could then file returns in electronic form on behalf of taxpayers. There are currently 110 authorised e-return intermediaries, or eRIs as they are called.
Ankur Sharma, director of eRI Span Across IT Solutions, which owns the TaxSpanner.com software and website for computing and filing of taxes, said there are at least two lakh registered users on the firm?s site. He expects the number of clients who will file through the firm to go up anywhere from 2.5 to three times. ?Currently, more than 1,000 people are filing through us every day,? Sharma explained. The firm had last year filed 60,000 returns, most of them under ITR-I and II for salaried people. This year, the firm has added another service to its portfolio, filing of returns under ITR-IV, and expects that product will attract an additional 20,000-30,000 clients. ?ITR-IV is for self-employed people and is a pretty complex 22-page form and you have to maintain your profit and loss and balancesheet also,? explained Sharma.
According to Sharma, the early adopters of the service include salaried employees in the information technology and IT-enabled services (ITeS) industry. Span Across IT also has tied up with big-ticket companies such as Tata Consultancy Services, HCL Technologies and Accenture to offer its services to their employees.