Income Tax return: Government issues big clarification on ITR process

Taxpayers, who have filed documents through e-filing account and followed faceless assessment proceedings, do not require e-verification and digital signature, the central government has stated. This has come as the extended due date of Income Tax Return filing on December 31 is approaching.

To make tax compliance more convenient, per-filled income tax returns (ITR) have been provided to individual taxpayers. The ITR form now contains pre-filled details of certain incomes such as salary income and the scope of information for pre-filling is being further expanded.

More than 3 crore Income Tax Returns have been filed on the new e-filing website of the Income Tax Department as on December 3, 2021. The number of ITRs filed per day is over 4 lakh, Ministry of Finance said in a statement.

The Income Tax Department strongly urges all taxpayers to view their Form 26AS and Annual Information Statement (AIS) through the e-filing portal to verify the accuracy of the TDS and Tax Payments and avail of pre-filing of ITRs. It is important for taxpayers to cross check the data in the AIS statement with their bank passbook, interest certificate, Form 16 a nd capital gains statement from brokerages in case of purchase and sale of equity or mutual funds, the Ministry of Finance said in the statement.