Income Tax Return Filing can be intimidating if you are new, it need not be. To make the whole process easier for you we’ve made a list of mistakes for you to avoid while Filing your ITR
1. Filing for incorrect Assessment Year/ITR Form
2. Mismatched/Incorrect Personal Information
3. Incorrect Bank Details for Tax Refund
4. Not disclosing all Income Sources
5. Mismatch in TDS declared vs. Form 26AS
6. Failure to verify ITR- V on time
7. Delay in Payment of Self Assesment Tax
Filing for incorrect Assessment Year/ITR Form
While filing your Taxes, you need to choose the Assessment year and ITR Form.
You could E-file your taxes on the Income Tax website, where you’re supposed to start with choosing the Assessment Year (A.Y.) and ITR Form.
Assessment Year starts in April and ends in March next year- which occurs after the Financial Year. You need to file ITR not in the year in which you earn the income but after the end of that year i.e, in the assessment year.
Similarly, you need to select an ITR form depending on your income sources. Usually,
- ITR-1 is for Income from Salary
- ITR- 2 is for Capital Gains – sale of equity shares, mutual funds, house property, etc. and for NRIs
- ITR-3 is for business / professional income like trading, proprietor, etc.
- ITR-4 is filed by taxpayers opting for presumptive taxation scheme.
Or here’s another way: you can entirely skip all the confusion and just upload Form 16, investment statements, and let Quicko choose the correct ITR form & file taxes online.
Mismatched/Incorrect Personal Information
Make sure the following details match in your PAN, Aadhaar and Income Tax database:
- Name
- Date of Birth
- Address
- Email id
- Phone
Mismatch in such details is likely to give you an error while filing your ITR.
It is mandatory to link your PAN with Aadhaar before you file your Income Tax Return.
Incorrect Bank Details for Tax Refund
If you are eligible to get a tax refund, make sure you enter these bank account details correctly:
- Bank name
- Account number
- IFSC code
Remember, the Income Tax Department may have the information of your bank account transactions using the AIR (Annual Information Report) filed by banks. So, do not forget to report all your bank accounts.
You will get your Income Tax Refund in your primary bank account. Choose the one which you use more frequently, so you don’t miss out on saving, splurging & investing it.
Quicko verifies your Bank Account, so your refund reaches you.
Not disclosing all Income Sources
All of us earn income from various sources like salary, rent, capital gains, bank interest, dividends and more.
Eg: You received interest on your tax refund. Now the interest is taxable under the head ‘Income From Other Sources’.
So, it’s not uncommon to miss out on reporting all Income Sources. That, however, could get you a notice from the Income Tax Department. Use your Form 26AS to report all your incomes.
Mismatch in TDS declared vs. Form 26AS
You should check Form 26AS for details of your tax credits and high-value transactions. It includes details such as:
- Tax Deducted at Source (TDS)
- Tax Collected at Source (TCS)
- Advance Taxes
- Self Assessment Taxes
- Income Tax Refunds
- High-value transactions like Shares, Mutual Funds, etc.
A mismatch between the TDS reported in your tax return and Form 26AS will result in an notice u/s 143(1)(a) from the Income Tax Department. If you end up getting one, here’s how to respond to it.
Failure to verify ITR- V on time
ITR- V is the verification document sent to you by the Income Tax Department once you’ve e-filed your ITR. You need to verify your ITR within 120 days of filing your return
You can e-verify your ITR using different methods to e-verify your ITR like
- Net Banking,
- Aadhaar OTP
- Demat Account
- Bank ATM
- Sending physical copy to CPC Bangalore
Keep in mind, the ITD will not process your ITR or issue your tax refund unless you e-verify your return.
Delay in Payment of Self Assesment Tax
Financial year ends on the 31st of March. If you have any unpaid tax liability, interest is re-calculated every month. So the more you delay in paying taxes, this penalty is likely to increase.
Ready to file your tax return?
We’re excited to share some updates about Quicko!
This season, we’re proudly serving millions of customers with our partners – Zerodha, ICICI Direct, IDFC First Bank, Kotak Securities, Scripbox, Sqrrl & many more!
Here’s a quick walk-through, now let’s get started!
💬Have Questions? Ask Away!
Hey @TeamQuicko
Can you tell me about ITD’s new ITR filing utility for AY 2021-22?
Hey @HarshitShah
To improve the tax filing process, the Income Tax Department has decided to do away with the excel and java-based utility and has launched a new offline JSON-based utility for the AY 2021-22. The new utility will help taxpayers import prefilled data and edit it before filing the income tax return (ITR).
The taxpayers can download the pre-filled data from the income tax e-filing portal and fill in the rest of the data. This imported prefilled data can be edited to change basic information such as address and all. Currently, the utility can be used to file ITR1 to ITR 4. ITD has also released a step-by-step guide to using the utility.
Hope this helps!
Is it possible to file ITR online without an account on the Income Tax e-filing portal?
What should be done in case of discrepancies in actual TDS and TDS credit under Form 26AS?
Hey @Amitabh_Verma
It is mandatory to create an account on the Income Tax e-filing portal to file your ITR online. It is a hassle-free quicko process. One can register on the portal by providing relevant details such as user type, PAN, first name, surname, date of birth, and fill in the registration form.