But if the queue looked shorter this year, it’s because of the likes of
tech-savvy Rahul, for whom the queue does not exists. Rahul believes in doing
everything, including his return filing by way of a click of the button —
thanks to e-filing, which is now possible even for non-corporate
assessees.
Whether you file it through the e-mode or the qmode, rush hour filing may mean that you could inadvertently miss out on certain details & disclosures and be on the bad
books of the taxman. But to start on a note of relief, let’s look at what
you can afford to miss. The good news here is that the new return formats do not
require filing of any annexure(s)/ papers/ certificates. In fact, not even the
tax withholding certificate is required to be filed along with the
return!
Needless to add,
preserving the certificates that were required to be submitted along with the
return in the past (that is, for TDS, donations claims, interest deduction, etc)
would, however, go a long way to ensure that you come out of a meeting with your
assessing officer (in case your return is picked-up for assessment) with a smile
on your face.
Interest
income
If your bank statements read
very “interesting”, so should your tax return — a common
blooper that most salaried tax payers tend to commit is the exclusion of
interest income. Your assessing officer does not have to be a genius to guess
that any person who maintains a savings/deposit account would normally also
receive interest income and not disclosing the interest income may, therefore,
be one sure way to get discomforting correspondence from the tax office,
specifically having regard to the deletion of section 80L, which provided for a
deduction in respect of interest income up to a certain prescribed limit.
Income from
stocks
Another area prone to mistake
would be missing on the details of your stints with stocks last year. It is only
apt if the tax collector gets the tax due to avoid unnecessary attention. Note
that even if the markets have not been kind, the loss would be allowed for carry
forward for luckier times in future for setoff only if the same has been
appropriately disclosed in the return.
Property
gains
With the real estate market
offering a bankable avenue for investment, tax payers who have opted to invest
in an additional house would do well to discharge the taxes on its “annual
value” — even if they did not earn a rupee from it. Please note that
the tax law permits a “Nil” valuation only to one, self-occupied
property. Thus, care should be exercised while determining the other incomes and
the incomes that are required to be clubbed to avoid unnecessary action from the
I-T department.
Refunds
through ECS
The instructions
mentioned in the form are very important, especially in a scenario where a
refund is due to an assessee where the form requires disclosure of the
communication address or the MICR code/ bank account number if a tax payer opts
for refunds through ECS. One should double check the bank details, details of
taxes deducted at source, etc, mentioned in the return by an assessee.
To guarantee a happy ending to
your return filing season, the last thing you need to remember is the use of
right return format. CBDT has recently notified new return formats, which depend
on the nature of incomes earned, so don’t make the mistake of using the
old forms picked-up last year just because they appear to be simpler. The above
list could go on. Nonetheless, due consideration of the above would undoubtedly
help a salaried person in filing his return while keeping an eye on the areas of
likely scrutiny by revenue.
“Prevention is better
than cure” still holds good here too.
CAclubindia
