With July coming to an end, taxpayers across the country have joined queues to beat the last date for filing returns.
This
year the last date for filing income tax returns for the Assessment
Year 2007-08 for salaried and non-audit business cases is July 31.
Income
tax centres in parts of the country announced that they had made
arrangements to receive "returns" even on the last weekend.
The
Income Tax Department's website incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in also now
allows for the electronic filing of returns. This site offers a 'return
preparation software' that is downloadable, and the chance to "e-file
your income-tax returns anytime, anywhere", says the department.
Varying
forms - ITR-1, ITR-2, ITR-3 and ITR-4 -- have been made available to
individuals and Hindu undivided families of diverse categories.
"In
India, the system of direct taxation as it is known today, has been in
force in one form or another even from ancient times," says the Income
Tax Department, citing examples from the ancient Indian texts of the
Manu Smriti and the Arthasashtra.
India's
Income Tax Department's history began in 1922, with a law being passed
to give a specific nomenclature to various tax authorities.
In
1924, Central Board of Revenue Act constituted the board as a statutory
body with functional responsibilities for the administration of the
then new Income Tax Act.
World
War II brought unusual profits to businessmen, and from 1940 to 1947,
Excess Profits Tax and Business Profits Tax were introduced. In 1953,
the Indian Revenue Service was constituted.
Over
the past few years, tax reforms in India have focussed on lowering of
tax rates; withdrawing or reducing major incentives; introducing
measures for presumptive taxation; simplification of tax laws
(particularly on capital gains) and "widening the tax base".
CAclubindia
