Income Tax Returns: From bank ATM to Aadhaar, ways to e-verify your 2019-2020 filing

The last date for filing Income Tax Return (ITR) for fiscal 2019-20 (assessment year 2020-21) is 31 December. Failing to file ITR by 31 December will cause taxpayers to face a penalty. According to  a report by Mint, the filing of ITR is a three-step process. The first step is filing tax returns, the second is verification of ITR and the third is processing of ITR by income tax department. As per earlier reports, while usually the deadline of ITR filing is 31 July of each year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the deadline has been extended by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT). If a taxpayer  fails to file ITR by 31 December , a penalty of minimum 50 percent or a maximum of 200 percent of the assessed tax will be levied on him/her. The assessee may also have to face up to seven years of imprisonment and a fine in extreme and high-value cases. As per the Mint report, taxpayers have to verify tax returns within 120 days of its filing, failing to do which will make the ITR invalid. Before e-verifying returns, taxpayers must have permanent account number (PAN), assessment year for which the ITR has been filed, acknowledgment number and electronic verification code. One can generate EVC through the following means: Netbanking Taxpayers need to login to bank account and look for the ’tax’ tab, under which they will find the e-verify link. The link will take them to the e-filing portal, where they will have to look for the ‘my account’ tab, which will show the option to generate EVC. The code will be sent to the taxpayers mobile number and email-id. Bank account number A facility offered only in a few banks, taxpayers need to validate bank accounts by logging in to the e-filing portal and going to ‘profile settings’. On that page, they will be asked to enter details such as bank name, account number, mobile number and IFSC code. After validating, taxpayers need to go to ‘my account’ tab and select ‘generate EVC’ option. The code will be sent to the mobile number. Bank ATM Taxpayers need to swipe the debit card and select the ‘generate PIN of re-filing’ option. It will get delivered to registered mobile number. Aadhaar-based OTP Taxpayers need to link their mobile number to Aadhaar and registered as such in the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) database. The PAN must be linked with Aadhaar as well. Taxpayers need to go to ‘My Account’ and click on ’e-verify return’ and select ‘I would like to generate Aadhaar OTP to e-verify my return.’ An SMS with 6 digit OTP will be sent to the registered mobile number. The OTP has to be entered and submitted. Post submission, the ITR will be verified.

One can also send a signed copy of ITR-V to the department. It is a one-page document that must be signed in blue ink and must be sent either via ordinary post or speed post. One does not need to send any supporting document along with the ITR-V.

Taxpayers will receive intimation via SMS on their mobile phone and email ID once the ITR is received by the tax department.