How To File Income Tax Return Online For Salaried Employee?

2020 has been a year of uncertainties. Whilst normal income tax filing deadlines typically fall in the month of July every year, the Government of India has extended the deadline of filing income tax returns from the month of July to January 10th of 2021. If you are employed in the private or public sector enterprise and fall under the income tax bracket, it is important to know how to file income tax returns online for salaried employees.

Process of Filing Income Tax Return

Start the process by ascertaining your primary source of income. In this case, for salaried employees, the primary source of income should be via salary. For all such individuals, the income tax returns can be filed online with the help of the ITR-1 or the SAHAJ form. However, the maximum income for the assessment year 2019-20 for ITR-1 has been capped at Rs. 50 lakh or less. Do note that before everything, please make sure you are registered on the e-filing website and have correctly updated your PAN and Aadhaar number there. For best results, please make sure that your phone number is linked to your Aadhaar card - this will be extremely useful for e-verification in the final stage. You must also link your bank account to this site - in case you are supposed to get any amount back from the IT department after filing your ITR, the amount will be credited to this account.

Must Read: How Salaried Employees Can Get a Personal Loan in India?

The SAHAJ form this year comes with some new columns and schedules. To get details of investments, deposits and payments made during the extended period till July 31, 2020, in order to claim deduction under Chapter VI-A or for rollover of investment in FY 2019-20 can be found under the new Schedule DI.

• The ITR-1 Form

The majority of the information required to be filled in the ITR-1 form will be pre-populated. For example, you will notice that information on your profile, salary, TDS is already available. Having said that, the information needs to be doubly verified by the income tax payee prior to submission.

Other information that will be needed from this assessment year is a more detailed salary break-up in the ITR-1 form. Exemptions under Section 10 such as allowances and any details of perquisites need to be mentioned here.

Despite being a salaried employee, if you have additional sources of income such as rent from property or interest from bank deposits and savings bank accounts, then these details are to be filled in the form too. You can get this information using the Form 16 from your employer and the form 26AS from the income tax website.

• Salary Components

All the components of your salary package must be clearly mentioned in the ITR-1 form. This includes any standard deductions that minimize your overall income tax liability. Employees with salary as the primary source of income will have to indicate the total value of perquisites, exempt allowances, profit in lieu of salary and any other deductions that may be applicable as part of your entertainment allowance and professional tax.

• House Income

Even though you may be a salaried employee, the tax returns also take into account income from properties. The Government of India allows for up to two properties to be considered as self-occupied. If you own more than two properties, the remaining ones will be accounted for as “deemed to be let out”. You will be required to pay tax on the rent or potential rent received from these properties.

• Capital Gains

If the value of the property exceeds Rs. 50 lakhs, income tax guidelines require the property owner to deduct TDS at the rate of 1%. However, there has been an amendment made to disclose these details by the seller in the ITR form. 

It is mandatory to disclose the buyer information of PAN details is quoted or if tax is deducted by the buyer in the documents.  Name and PAN information of the buyer, property address along with percentage share and the amount needs to be disclosed in the form. 

• Other Income Sources

Other sources of income will have to be declared in full. These include incomes earned on interest, bank savings account, fixed deposits and income-tax refund which is categorised under the income-tax head “other sources”.

• Residential Status

If your job requires you to undertake overseas travel frequently, then you will also have to submit information on the number of days that you have spent abroad. You will be liable to pay income tax only if you spend a total of 182 days or less in the country in a given financial year, or 60 days or more in a financial year and 365 days or more during the preceding four financial years.

• Foreign Assets

If you have any foreign assets like foreign depository accounts apart from foreign bank accounts, the same will need to be declared in your ITR-1 form. Other asset information like foreign custodial accounts, foreign equity and debt held and for eign cash value insurance contract details will also have to be reported in the income tax forms.

Using the Online Route to File Income Tax Returns for Salaried Employees

Follow this step by step process to file income tax returns online:

Documents Required:

You need to have these documents on standby at the time of uploading your ITR-1 form online.

• PAN
• Aadhaar
• Bank account details
• Form 16
• Investments details
• Form 26AS 

Please note that if you are filing for FY 19-20, then you may select AY20-21 from the dropdown while filing the return.

Login:

• Login to the Income Tax e-Filing portal
• You will need to enter your PAN Card number, Password and Captcha code to complete the login process
• Click on the 'e-File' menu
• Click on the link - 'Income Tax Return'

Filling the Form:

On Income Tax Return Page

• Your PAN Card information will auto-populate
• Select your applicable Assessment Year
• Select the ITR Form Number
• Select 'Filing Type' as 'Original/Revised Return'
• Choose the Submission Mode as your Prepare and Submit the form online
• Click on Continue to complete the task

Carefully go through the instructions and ensure that you have filled out all the applicable and mandatory fields in the SAHAJ form. Select the correct ‘Verification’ option which is located under the 'Taxes Paid and Verification' tab.

Now simply click on the 'Preview and Submit' button. Check all the information entered in the ITR before submitting.

The final stage is verification. You can do this in 2 ways

1. Online e-verification:

1. From the top menu, under “My account” tab, select “e-verify”
2. Select the ITR which you want to verify
3. If you are supposed to pay any additional tax, you can click “Pay now” and complete the process online.
4. If your Aadhaar card number is linked to your phone number, you can just click on “e-verify using Aadhaar OTP”.
5. Enter the OTP sent to your mobile number and click “e-verify”

2. Physical e-verification:

1. Take a print out of the form and add the date, place and your signature at the bottom in the place indicated.
2. Send the document to the address specified via speed post.
3. If you are supposed to pay additional tax, you may do so online or send a cheque as indicated on the website.

Must Read: How Much Personal Loan Can I Get On My Salary?

Conclusion

Income tax returns should be filed by every individual with an income of over Rs. 2.50 lakhs or more. IT Returns are essential documents that are required during the application of a personal loan for salaried employees. Fullerton India offers salaried employees with personal loans for up to Rs. 25 lakhs* at competitive interest rates starting from 11.99%. You can check your personal loan eligibility on the Fullerton India website or get in touch with the Customer Service team on the toll free number 1800 103 6001  or email us on [email protected].