By Yogesh Kale,
As individuals prepare to file income tax returns, adopting a strategic approach can alleviate stress and ensure ease of compliance. Even though return filing has now become automated and all the relevant information is just fingertips away, this checklist will streamline your tax filing process.
Check tax credit statement: Form 26AS gives taxpayers details of TDS and TCS during the relevant year. It can be downloaded easily from the e-filing portal. Check that the amounts of income and TDS / TCS are appropriate.
Check annual information statement (AIS): In addition to TDS / TCS, AIS reports savings account interest, dividend, rent received, purchase and sale transactions of securities / immovable properties, foreign remittances, interest on deposits, GST turnover, etc. Having an overview of all relevant information before filing your tax return is useful. There have been cases where a transaction, be it sale of securities or immovable property, is reported twice in AIS. The taxpayer needs to file a feedback response against this to get it rectified so that he does not have to pay additional tax on income reported twice on account of difference in the tax return and AIS.
Payment of differential tax: In case an individual has dividend income or interest income or any other type of income where the rate of TDS is less than tax rate (as per slab) applicable, the taxpayer would benefit from paying the tax upfront by saving interest cost.
Investments/deductions not captured in Form 16: An employee should take stock of investments / expenditures which yield tax benefits in case such investments have not been reported to the employer.
Salary from more than one employer: If one as changed jobs during the year, and not reported the income received from the previous employers to the current employer, he could possibly be exposed to additional tax liability. In such a case, paying the additional tax liability as self-assessment tax sooner than later would save interest cost for the taxpayer.
Income not appearing in Form 26AS / AIS: The taxpayer should also take stock of income not appearing in Form 26AS / AIS (e.g., income of a minor child to be clubbed in the hands of parent or rental income less than `1 lakh per annum) for reporting in the tax return. Appropriate reporting would help in undesirable consequences, if the case is picked up for tax scrutiny.
Pre-validating bank accounts for refund: Refunds are transferred electronically only to your bank account that is linked with your PAN. Pre-validate your bank account using a simple procedure at the e-filing portal.
Verify returns: After having successfully filed your ITR online, you need to verify it. The tax department starts processing your return, once it is verified. You can e-verify either through net banking or Aadhaar OTP. In case you don’t e-verify, you need to send the acknowledgement (ITR V) in physical form, which must reach the Centralised Processing Centre (CPC) in Bengaluru within 30 days of e-filing the return.
The writer is executive director, Nangia Andersen India. Inputs from Mustafa Lashkarwala (assistant manager)
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