For the past few weeks, I had been trying to file my income tax returns online through the efiling system started by the Government of India but have faced many hurdles. The final roadblock came when I was unable to create a user ID and register using my PAN Card number - the system simply refused to identify my name. That's when I decided to file my income tax returns using the traditional paper format.I downloaded ITR -1 (for salaried individuals) and the Acknowledgment Form from the income tax portal and filled them with the details I got from Form 16 given by my employer. The only stumbling blocks I faced were the fields about 'Assessing Officer (Ward/Circle)' and 'Return Filed Under Section' fields in the Filing Status section of the form.
After checking instruction number 9.1 for the form, I filled in the two boxes for 'Return Filed Under Section' with the number 11 (As I was submitting the return before the due date of 31st July 2008). I was really confused about the 'Assessing Officer (Ward/Circle) field, as various people had told me it signified different things such as your address location, office address location, salary amount and so on. Unable to find any helpful information on the internet, I headed to Pragati Maidan to find out its meaning and submit my income tax returns form.
When I arrived at Pragati Maidan, I headed to Hall Number 12 A, where the income tax hungama was going on. Here, I was greeted by large yellow banners with numbers denoting different counters where different categories of income tax payers were required to submit their forms. These numbers are the number you are supposed to write in the 'Assessing Officer (Ward/Circle) Field. Still confused about the number which I needed to write, I asked an official at the Senior Citizen's counter for some help. With one glance at my form and the name of my company, she said go to line number '48-1' and pointed me in the right direction. This was the line that all income tax payers with salary less than Rs 10 lakh whose company's name starts with the letter 'S' had to stand in. She also wrote this number in the 'Assessing Officer (Ward/Circle)' field.
The line was not that long and the officials stamped my ITR 1 income tax return form in no time at all. They handed me back the acknowledgment with a serial number stamped on it. I am so thankful that I have finally been able to get this stressful issue off my head.
Have you filed your income tax returns? How has the experience been?
I did file my returns, but through an Income Tax Advisor. He charged something like 200 or 300 rupees.
ReplyDelete:)
When i created my account on incometax website, i was surprised to get the response: User already exists
ReplyDeleteI had to play with "forgot password" and get myself correctly recongnised.
After getting success on that, and downloading the ITR and filling it up, the site would simply reuse to upload my filled in return!
With lost patience, i decided to file it the way i always do - office peon