Electronic Filing of Tax Returns

The past few years have seen a multitude of changes in the process of filing tax returns in India. Now, most taxpayers are expected to file their tax returns electronically instead of manually– a paradigm shift in the tax administration in India. The online filing is linked to an individual’s PAN/Aadhar.

The Indian tax department has set up a Central Processing Center (CPC), a state-of-the-art facility in Bengaluru, that processes all tax returns that have been filed electronically. The CPC has been responsible for drastically reducing the time taken to process tax returns and issue refunds. As a result, a large number of taxpayers, particularly individuals, have started receiving their refunds within a few months of filing returns.

The Finance Act, 2019 has included the following additional categories of persons in the mandatory return filing list:

• Persons claiming capital gains tax exemption
• Persons depositing an amount or aggregate of amounts exceeding INR 10 million in one or more current bank accounts
• Foreign travel expense exceeding INR 200,000 for themselves or any other person
• Electricity expense of an amount or aggregate of amounts exceeding INR 100,000.

To know more about the e-filing of income tax returns, you can visit https://incometaxindia.gov.in/Pages/tax-services/file-income-tax-return.aspx.

Personal taxation in India is dynamic and complicated, with several interpretational and other issues. However, the scheme of law provides for many relaxations with a view of avoiding unnecessary hassles for individual taxpayers and has simplified the process to encourage timely and accurate tax return filing and payment.