IT Department helps Pay Taxes Online and Track Income Tax Refunds

If your total annual income, prior to the deductions allowed under 80C to 80U is over ₹ 2.5 lakhs, it is mandatory to file your income tax returns. This limit is ₹ 3 lakhs for senior citizens. For any organization or firm, regardless of profit or loss, filing returns is mandatory. It is possible to completely file your returns online and track the progress of your returns and refunds online. There are currently nine different forms available for online filing of income tax returns including ITR-1 to ITR-7 and also include the ITR-4S and ITR-V. In fact, ITR-3, 4,5,6,7 have to be mandatorily e-filed.

It is also compulsory to file your returns if you receive income from property held under a trust for charitable or religious purposes or a political party or a research association, news agency, educational or medical institution, trade union, a not for profit university or educational institution, a hospital, infrastructure debt fund, any authority, body or trust. Another critical reason why it is essential to file returns on a timely basis is if you want to know the status of income tax refund.

If you have paid excess tax in the previous years or have paid tax deduced at source or TDS, but your taxable income is lower than the tax bracket you fall under, you can check the income tax refund status and have it transferred to your bank account. The online income tax refund status facility is not the only online tax related services you can avail.

Online filing of returns needs to be done by July 31 or every financial year, preferably a month or two in advance so as to encounter lesser traffic on the official site operated by the Government of India. However, there are many private portals that assist you with filing of returns and charge a fee depending upon the services they offer.In case this deadline is missed for filing tax returns for the previous year, every additional day till July 31 increases the penal interest.

The IT department has developed a mobile app for paying taxes and tracking refunds and is considering issuing PANs on real time basis using Aadhaar biometric facility. The mobile application has the functionality to pay taxes and track refunds. The PAN allotment system of the I-T department is integrated with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs-portal for allotment at the time of incorporation of a company. A turn-around-time of 4 hours is prescribed for allotment of PAN after receipt of PAN application from MCA portal to PAN Service provider NSDL eGov portal.

Besides, the tax department has started online PAN application facility using digital signature certification or Aadhaar based e-signature. Aadhaar-based e-KYC facility would allow individuals or entities wanting to apply for PAN to verify details such as date of birth or address by way of biometric identification using thumb impressions. So far, more than 111 crore Aadhaar numbers have been issued. As per the government estimate, every year 2.5 crore people across the country apply for PAN cards. There are more than 25 crore PAN card holders in the country.

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