E-filers may not need to send hard copy to I-T deptTaxpayers filing their income tax returns on the electronic mode may no longer be asked to send paper documents to the Central Processing Centre (CPC) in Bangalore as the Income Tax department is planning to introduce electronic PIN-based verification for e-filers from this year. The move would help personal income tax assesses filing returns online. About 27.5 million people are expected to file their income tax returns online this year, compared with 21.4 ,million last year. To encourage e-filing, the I-T department is also planning to provide pre-filled information in the income tax return forms such as tax credits, migration to electronic clearance service for swift payment of refund, and validation of e-filing utilities developed by private players. At present, people filing their returns online have to send a hard copy to the CPC by post for verification unless they get a digital signature at the payment of a fee. "Electronic PIN-based e-filing will eliminate the need for paper verification in future. It is at a very advanced stage and may be available to taxpayers in September," said Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, Bangalore, K Satyanarayana. This, however, would need amendments to the Information Technology Act so that the electronic verification is legally recognized. Changes will also be required in the Income Tax Rules. While individual taxpayers will benefit from this, companies may still be required to furnish digital signature. Currently, e-returns cannot be processed without the verification document called ITR-V that has to be sent to CPC within 120 days of filing the return. Taxpayers have to track its acknowledgement to complete the e-filing process. Satyanarayana added the facility may only be provided to taxpayers who have e-filed in the past because otherwise it would be difficult to transmit an encrypted PIN number. There are about 34 million taxpayers in India. In 2012-13, a 31% jump was seen in e-filings by taxpayers as 21.4 million entities filed returns online, against 16.4 crore filed in 2011-12. About 79% of the e-returns were filed by people voluntarily. In the last Budget, the tax department made e-filing mandatory for those with an annual income of Rs 5 lakh or more. Anticipating the future growth in e-filing, the tax department has embarked upon a new e-filing platform with enhanced functionalities. E-filing will shortly be enabled for wealth tax returns. In a bid to increase voluntary tax compliance, the department is considering providing pre-populated forms for filing income tax returns. A good portion of information in these forms, such as data received from the employer and third party sources, may be pre-filled by the tax department in line with the global practice. The tax department will use information from sources such as Annual Information Return, Form 16A given by the employer, and Form 26AS. It also wants to move towards 100% electronic transfer of refunds. But for that it will need both PAN and bank account number of the taxpayer. The system will process the refund only when both the numbers entered by the department are correct. |
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