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Have You Verified Your Income Tax Return After Filing? Five Things To Know

Income tax return filing: Assessees can submit their ITR online using the e-filing portal
Income tax return filing: Assessees can submit their ITR online using the e-filing portal

If you haven't filed your income tax yet, you have less than two weeks to do so. The Income Tax Department has provided online facilities - through its e-filing portal incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in - for individuals to file their ITR or income tax return for assessment year 2018-19. Filing the income tax return by the stipulated deadline of August 31 ensures that the assessee does not have to bear any penalty charges. However, filing or submitting the income tax return online does not complete the ITR process. The Income Tax Department has mandated the public to verify the income tax return once a submission has been made. Today, the taxman provides multiple ways, such as mail, net banking, ATM and Aadhaar, for assessees to verify their ITR. (Also read: Find out which income tax return form is for you)

Traditionally, income tax assessees used to get their ITR submission verified by way of sending a signed ITR-V form to the Centralized Processing Centre (CPC), Bengaluru. Other than that, the Income Tax Department provides five ways for verification of an ITR: Aadhaar OTP (One-Time Passcode), bank ATM, bank account, demat account and net banking.

Here are five ways to verify an income tax return (ITR) after submission (filing):

1. Through bank ATM

After logging into an ATM using a debit or ATM card, the user may select the 'PIN for e-filing' option to verify his or her ITR. According to the Income Tax Department, this facility is also available in select banks. That means if you are not sure whether your bank provides this facility, you may check the available options the next time you use your debit card at an ATM. After this step, an EVC is sent to your registered mobile number. This code can be shared with the taxman through the e-filing portal. Once you have your EVC with you, you may log into the e-filing portal and select "already generated EVC through Bank ATM" as verification mode. After this step, enter the EVC in the given field and submit your ITR. This completes the ITR verification process.

2. Through bank account

An ITR can also be verified directly through the taxman's e-filing portal. The user is required to log into the income tax e-filing portal. Once logged in, the user can select the 'Profile Setting' option to "pre-validate" his or her bank account. This service, the taxman mentions, is only available for select banks. The user may proceed by choosing 'EVC' as verification method, using the pre-validated bank account. After the user submits the ITR, an EVC or electronic verification code is sent to the his/ her registered mobile number. The user is required to enter this code in the given field on the e-filing portal. This completes the ITR verification process.

3. Through Aadhaar OTP

ITR verification can also be done using an Aadhaar card. For this, the user is required to log into the taxman's e-filing portal. He or she is then required to submit the ITR by selecting "Aadhaar OTP" as verification mode. Once this is done, the OTP or one-time password is sent to the mobile number registered with the Aadhaar card. This OTP is to be filled in the given field on the e-filing portal. The ITR verification process gets completed after the user provides this OTP.

4. Through demat account

This method is similar to the previous method. After logging into the e-filing portal and selecting the 'Profile Setting' section, the user may proceed by choosing "EVC using DEMAT account" as verification mode, according to the taxman. After submission of ITR, the user receives an EVC on his or her mobile number. Furnishing this code in the given field on the e-filing portal completes the process of ITR verification.

5. Through net banking

For this, the assessee is required to login to his or her net banking account. Once logged in, the user may find and click on the 'e-filing' link. This redirects the user to a particular section on the Income Tax Department's e-filing portal - incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in. Using this link to submit an ITR ensures that the same is verified.