New Delhi: As part of efforts to popularize the electronic mode of filing Income Tax Returns (ITRs), the CBDT is planning to provide “pre-filled” return forms to filers which will have an automatic upload of data on income and other vitals of a taxpayer.
The apex policy-making body of the I-T department is actively working to ensure that this customer-friendly measure can be launched for taxpayers from the next financial year.
The move comes in the backdrop of the new e-filing system, put in place in August, which allows online verification of an ITR by using either the Aadhaar number, Internet banking, ATM among others.
Small taxpayers with income less than Rs 5 lakh and without claims of refund can generate an electronic verification code from the e-filing website of the tax department which is later sent to their registered email to e-verify the return.
These technology upgrades are proposed to be initially started for small taxpayers who file the one-page ITR (ITR 1) and the thinking in the department is that when the data of income as per previous records is automatically uploaded then the taxpayer can file their ITRs quickly and wherever there are any amendments or changes, those can be corrected by the taxpayer himself.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) is particularly bolstered on this front by the latest figures which recently reported that the tax department received 2.06 crore returns on its e-filing portal as on September 7 (last date for ITR filing), which is an increase of 26.12 per cent over the last year, when 1.63 crore returns were filed online.
