Featues of New Income Tax Portal
Know the features you can use in new income tax portal for filing IT Returns

11 Things You Should Know About New Income Tax Portal Before Filing IT Returns

Income Tax Department recently unveiled a new website (www.incometax.gov.in) for tax return filing. The new portal offers various new features, is believed to be user friendly and expected to ease tax filing process. The portal will be used for all Income Tax Returns filing from FY2020-21 / AY 2021-22. This article lists 11 things you should know about new Income Tax Portal before filing IT Returns which has to be done by 30th Sep 2021.

1. Login Credentials

You do not need to register and create new login id and passwords for using new Income Tax Portal. IT Department has migrated their database which means you can use existing login credentials (of old Income Tax website) to login into the new portal.

You can also login into new portal using your Adhaar details. Just enter Adhaar number in username field and use the password of old IT website.

2. Choosing IT Regime

Last year, government had announced dual tax regime. People could choose between existing tax slabs which considered deductions or the lower tax slabs without deductions. When offices asked employees to declare their tax regime at beginning of the financial year, many got confused as to which one is better suited to their needs.

In case you are among those who regret their decision and want to change their tax regime, there is good news for you. You can change the tax regime while filing returns on the new IT portal.

All the calculations and further proceeding will be done basis the tax regime chosen on portal.

Note – If you are still confused on which tax regime suits you, read my article -> Old vs New Tax Regime – Who Should Choose What?

3. Selecting The Right IT Return Form

Choosing which IT Return form to fill has been a big challenge to many. Most people just filled ITR-1 even though they invest in stocks/mutual funds, have capital gains or income from other sources. This was mostly due to lack of knowledge and complexity of filing ITR-2/ITR-3/ITR-4.

Income tax department has worked on this problem.  In the new portal, you get an elaborate questionnaire. On the basis of your answers, the right IT Return Form is advised to you. This feature should help clear ambiguity and make things convenient for the users.

4. New Age Security Features

To prevent phising attacks/digital frauds, new portal has introduced a personalized welcome message option for you. Similarly 2 factor authentication / static password functionality is also provided to help enhance security.

Aim is to prevent fraudsters from creating duplicate websites and cheating unsuspecting customers.

5. Linking Demat

Few challenge people faced while filling ITR-2 earlier were related to detailing the Share/Mutual Fund transactions done in financial year, listing capital gains/losses and carrying forward the losses/adjusting gains against previous years losses. All these had to be done manually.

But in the new portal, you have an option to link demat account. If done correctly, all the data will automatically be captured and pre-filled in the form making it very convenient for users.

6. Quicker processing

Via new portal, IT department is claiming to provide immediate processing of IT Returns if they are filled correctly. This will help in quicker refunds to people and also reduce the workload of Income tax officers while saving them money they had to pay as interest on late refunds.

7. Multiple Payment options

In new portal, you can pay self assessment taxes via different modes – RTGS / NEFT / UPI / Credit Cards / Net Banking etc.

8. Prefilled ITR

Being integrated with your bank accounts and Demat accounts helps new portal to pre-fill most of the data. So no more loosing time on filling salary income details, interest, dividend, capital gains etc. All that is needed is uploaded TDS and SFT Statements.

9. Allows Authorized Reps To Make Changes On Your Behalf

New Income Tax Returns Filing Portal gives you the flexibility to authorize your CA, tax consultant or representative to fill and submit forms on your behalf. They can file returns, submit grievances or other formalities.

10. Chatbot/live assistance over call

Via the chatbot and live assistance feature of the new portal, users can clarify their doubts in quick time and file their returns correctly in the first time itself.

11. Guide and tutorial based on type of person

The new portal has dedicated guides/tutorials for different type of users. So whether you are an individual, HUF, salaried, businessman, NRI, senior citizen or business entity, you will be able to get all the required information at one place dedicated for you.

Conclusion

Via their new portal, Income Tax department has certainly taken the right step towards providing easy access to information, easing tax filing returns and adding security and convenience layer. Every new initiative has few glitches in beginning. But I am sure that they will be addressed soon and by the next year, we will be appreciating the new system.

This Post Has One Comment

  1. Nitesh

    Nice informative post

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