Income Tax: E-filing Made Easy

By Author: Alex Mason
Total Articles: 3
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What is income tax e-filing?

Considering the term e-filing, it should be able to give you an idea of what income tax e-filing is all about. However let us consider that that you are entirely new to computer technologies and would like to know. Income tax is nothing but taxes that we pay to the government in return for using the services and facilities available in the city, town or villages to earn our livelihood. These taxes are payable once a year in case of an individual and companies. The payment schedule depends on the year followed by the company either the calendar year which is January to December or the financial year April to March. There are different options available for one to make his or her tax payment and income tax e-filing is one of the newest ways to do so. E-filing is nothing but payment done online over the internet to the income tax department of the country. E-filing helps the tax payers to pay their direct taxes online. To be able to make a payment online one need to have a net banking account with one of their authorised banks such as SBI bank, AXIS bank and others.

Why do you need ...
... to file tax?

This question often plagues every taxpayer, while they grudgingly pay their taxes. To shed some light on this question let us consider that you have given your house on rent, but you have asked the person or persons who have rented your place to pay the electricity bill. Why is that so? Don’t you think that since he pays rent you should be the one making the payment for electricity? You can be sure the first resounding answer to the question above will be a NO. That is because the renter is using the facilities and he is the one who should be making a payment and not you. In the same way when you make use of banking services, electricity, water, or any other services provided by the government you would need to pay it something. In this case that something is nothing but taxes that you pay on your total income after exemptions allowed.

Who should e-file income tax?

Income tax can be filed physically also, but the Central Board of Direct taxes has introduced a new change that is applicable to all taxpayers including salaried individuals. E-filing income tax is now compulsory for those who earn more than Rs. 5lakh taxable income during the financial year. The slab was reduced from 10lakh income to 5lakh when the government realised that a large number of individuals fell under the 5lakh to 10lakh tax bracket. Salaried tax individuals do not have to obtain their digital signature while e-filing income tax.. Once they have filed their taxes online they would need to take a print of the receipt and send it to the tax department’s office in Bangalore.