Filing your Income-tax Returns ? – For your attention !!

The last date for filing the return of Income is just about a week away and it is time to get set with your complete documents to comply with your tax filing.  While you file your Income-tax returns, ensure that you have taken care of the following aspects , in order to avoid further complications :-

Savings Bank Interest

Do you know Interest credited to your Savings account is taxable? Ensure that you declare the Interest credited to your Savings account in your return of Income as Income from other sources. For the benefit of small assessees, the Income-tax Act has provided a relief by way of deduction under Section 80 TTA to the extent of Rs. 10000/-. Hence in effect, SB Interest less than Rs. 10000/- will be exempt from tax. Do not forget to declare your SB Interest and claim the eligible exemption.

Fixed Deposit Interest

Interest earned on Fixed Deposit (either with bank or other financial institutions) is also taxable as Income from other sources. Many people assume that providing Form 15G / 15H to the Bank/Company will suffice and fail to declare the relevant income in their returns. The Fixed Deposit Interest should be declared as Income irrespective of the fact whether your have given Form 15G/15H or not and ensure that you declare and pay taxes on the same. Beware of the fact that the Form 15G/15H provided by you is being sent to the Income tax department by the banks/financial institutions and the Income tax department is having sufficient mechanism to check if you have declared those income in your returns or not.

 Transactions in Shares,securities & mutual Fund units

If you have Purchased/Sold Shares, Securities, Mutual Fund units during the previous year make sure you have declared the same in your return of income irrespective of the fact that you have made Profit (or) Loss in those transactions. The Income-tax department is having details of all the high value transactions and the same needs to be declared and the relevant taxes shall be paid.

 Rental Income

From this year, declaration of PAN number of the Landlord is mandatory in case of salaried assessees paying Rent in excess of Rs. 100000/- per annum from claiming their HRA Exemption. So if you are a landlord getting rent in excess of Rs. 100000/- per annum from your tenant (salaried employee), ensure that you have declared the rental income in full while filing your returns.

 Interest on Income-tax refund

This is one of the common items missing attention of the tax payers while filing their Return of Income. If you have received any refund from the Income-tax department, kindly ensure that you have declared the Interest on Income-tax refund as Income from other sources. You can find this information from the Income-tax Refund/Assessment order (or) in the Form 26AS which is available in the e-filing website of the Income-tax Department.

 TDS on sale of Property

 This is a recent addition to the TDS kitty of the Income-tax Department. When you sell a property with sale consideration in excess of Rs. 50 Lakhs, your buyer would have deducted TDS from the sale consideration and deposited the same in your PAN number. You should declare the sale transaction in your return of Income and pay the necessary capital gains for the same as applicable and also claim the TDS made on the sale transaction.

 More than one Form 16

During the previous year, if you have changed job, ensure that you obtain Form 16 from both your present and past employers and declare both the details in your Return of Income and the TDS there on.

 Report your Exempt Income

If you have exempt Income such as PPF Interest, Dividends, Long Term Capital gain on sale of listed equity shares, etc., even though they are exempt from tax, the same needs to be reported in your return of income under the column “Exempt Income”.

 Submission of ITR-V

Please be aware that simply filing your Income-tax returns online alone is not enough. You should ensure that your sign and send the ITR-V after e filing your return of income , to the Income-tax Department within 120 days from the date of filing. You should send the signed ITR-V either by way of ordinary post (or) speed Post only. Other modes (Courier, Registered Post, etc…,)  will lead to rejection of your return filed.

 Check your Form 26AS before completion of your filing

Last but not the least, download the copy of your Form 26AS and check the entries in the same and ensure that they are matching with your details in the Return of Income, before filing. The Form 26AS will provide complete details relating to your PAN with regard to TDS and which should be reconciled with your declared Income & TDS. You can download the Form 26AS by logging in to your e-filing account of the Income-tax department (or) from the TDS website.

 Ensure the above points for a hassle free tax filing and assessment. Be proud for filing your returns, paying your taxes and being part of the development of our Nation.   Wishing you all a very happy filing experience…….