ITR Filing Online: Complete Guide to e-file Income Tax Return by self (salaried)

Free Income Tax Return Filing Online by Self for AY 2023-24: Every salaried individual having annual income above the basic exemption limit in FY 2022-23 is required to file Income Tax Return (ITR) for AY 2023-24. While there are several online platforms that facilitate ITR filing by charging a small fee, salaried taxpayers can file their returns by themselves and without paying any fee on the Income Tax e-filing website. This article provides a complete basic guide for free ITR filing by self on the e-filing website.

Why you should file ITR on your own?

Most of the salaried employees are in the income bracket of Rs 5 lakh to Rs 20 lakh. Also, many of them do not have multiple sources of income, apart from salary. For such employees, filing ITR by themselves is recommended as it is free. It will also help these employees keep track of their finances from a tax perspective in future.

When you should take the help of an expert or go to professional ITR filing platforms?

If you have multiple sources of income like some side business, capital gains from stock trading and investments, rental income etc, filing ITR correctly may seem a daunting task. In this case, it is recommended to take the help of experts to ensure all your details are filed correctly.

Also read: Conditions when you must file ITR

Things to do before starting ITR filing

Before proceeding to file ITR online on the e-filing website, the following are some documents and details you should keep with yourself for ready reference.

According to Neeraj Agarwala, partner, Nangia Andersen India, it is important to remember that while Form 26AS and AIS provide information about gross income and tax credits available with the Income Tax Department, taxpayers have the responsibility to ensure that correct and complete information is declared in the ITR. (Read more details)

Documents required:

• Form 16 and Form 26AS – You should reconcile the TDS/TCS/tax paid mentioned in these forms. In case some deductions are missing, you can claim that by filing ITR. But you need to have the supporting documents as proof. In case you have paid extra taxes in the FY, you will be eligible to claim a refund.
• Details of bank accounts, Interest earned from savings bank accounts in FY 2022-23
• Interest certificates – Interest earned from FD, Post Office schemes etc that doesn’t allow tax-deduction
• Securities statement – which will have details of transactions related to securities such as equity, mutual funds, bonds, debentures etc.
• Home Loan Interest Certificates
• Documents for donations made to claim deduction under Section 80G, 80GGA
• Documents for any other tax-saving investment that you didn’t inform your employer previously
• Rent receipts (if you have a let-out property).

Check Your Tax Liability

While your Form 16 and Form 26AS would have details of all the tax deducted by your employer and TCS/TDS etc paid by you in FY 2022-23, you should once again check your tax liability using the following Income Tax Calculator and make a comparison between New and Old Tax Regimes. If your tax liability becomes less in New Tax Regime, opt for it while filing the ITR. In case the Old Regime reduces your tax liability, go for it.

Income Tax Calculator

Note: Salaried taxpayers are allowed to change tax regimes every year while filing ITR. You may have given your choice of tax regime at the start of FY 2022-23 to your employer. But you can change it at the time of filing the ITR.

Also Read: Precautions to Take while Filing ITR

How to file ITR: Step-by-Step Guide

If you have all the information/documents with you, it may not take more than 10-20 minutes to complete the ITR filing process.

Note: Most of the information related to your income, deductions and tax liability will be already available on the e-filing site at the time of filing ITR. You can make amendments if required.

Also, by simply following the prompts on the e-filing portal, you will be able to complete the filing process on your own in a quick time. That said, the following are some indicative steps that you will have to follow to file ITR, as per information available on the Income Tax website.

Step 1: Go to the Income Tax e-Filing portal (https://www.incometax.gov.in/iec/foportal/) and login by entering your user ID (PAN), Password, Captcha code.

Step 2: Go to the ‘e-File’ menu and click on the ‘Income Tax Return’ link. While your PAN will be auto-populated on the Income Tax Return page, you will have to select ‘Assessment Year’, ‘ITR Form Number’, ‘Tax Regime’ ‘Filing Type’ as ‘Original/Revised Return’ and ‘Submission Mode’ as ‘Prepare and Submit Online. After providing all the above details, click on ‘Continue’.

Also Read: Which ITR form to choose

Step 3: In this step, read all instructions carefully and fill in the applicable and mandatory fields of the Online ITR Form. You may also click on the ’Save Draft’ button to avoid loss of data due to session timeout. The draft will be available for 30 days from the date of saving or ITR filing or till there is no change in XML schema of the notified ITR, whichever is earlier, as per information on the Income Tax Website.

Step 4: The e-filing portal provides pre-filled details, including personal details (bank account for refund, correspondence address etc.), your gross total income, total deduction, taxes paid and tax liability as per the information available with the Income Tax Department based on your Form 16/Form 26AS. You are required to confirm these details. At this stage, you should thoroughly check that all details are correct. If not, you can make amendments to maximise tax-saving. But you should ensure to have supporting documents to avoid any hassles later.

Step 5: Once you have confirmed all the details, you will have the option to click on continue and check the draft ITR. Read it once carefully before submitting it.

Step 8: After submitting the ITR, select the appropriate Verification option in the ‘Taxes Paid and Verification’ tab. You can e-verify the ITR easily using Aadhaar-based OTP.

Note: ITR verification is necessary as without it the process is not complete. Once you verify, the Income Tax Department will send you a message of successful verification. Following this, the ITR will go for processing, which may take 15-20 days.

Post submission of ITR, you can check the status of your return on the Income Tax Website at any time. The due date to file ITR for AY 2023-24 is July 31.