Indian salaried employees have to submit a form which will mention their income and the applicable tax on the same according to The Income Tax Act of 1961. This form is known as income tax return or ITRin short. The employee will submit this form, with details, to the Income Tax Department of India. The information provided in the income tax return pertains to a given financial year i.e. a year that begins on April 1st and ends on 31st March of the subsequent year.
Before taking a look at the steps by which one can file an income tax return online, it is important to understand who needs to file the same. Any individual whose gross income is more than 2,50,000 after exemptions are liable to pay income tax. An individual whose gross income is more than the basic exemption limit before deductions under Sections 80C, 80CCD, 80D, 80TTB, and 80TTB as per the following table is liable to file an ITR. The age and corresponding income are given below:
| Age of the Individual | Amount of Income |
| Up to 60 years of age | ₹2,50,000 |
| Between 60 years to 80 years of age | ₹3,00,000 |
| Above the age of 80 years | ₹5,00,000 |
A few other conditions are also attached to individuals who are liable to file an ITR. These are
1. An individual who has multiple sources of income
2. Individuals with investments or earnings from foreign assets
3. An individual with over ₹1 crore of deposits in one or more banks
4. An individual who has made a payment of over ₹2,00,000 on foreign travel of another person. (this person may or may not be a family member)
5. An individual who has paid more than ₹1,00,000 as electricity bill in a year
A few simple steps will let a salaried employee file an income tax return
1. Find e-filling on the official website of the Income Tax Department
2. Log in to your account by using your PAN number, password and a Captcha Code. If you do not have an account on the portal you can sign up with your PAN number which will work as your User ID
3. Under the e-file section click on ‘Income Tax Return’ from the drop-down menu and select the appropriate year of assessment. You will also need to select an appropriate income tax return form and download the same. You can choose between ITR-1, ITR-2, or ITR-3 (Go down for more information on the types of forms)
4. The filing type should be ‘Original’ unless you are filing a revised return
5. Change the submission mode to ‘Prepare and Submit Online’ and click on ‘Continue.’
6. At this step, you have to fill the form up with all the information regarding your income. Then, you are required to add the details of tax payments through TDS, TCS, and advance tax
7. Compute the amount you have to pay and pay the tax. Challan details should also be included in the return
8. Once you have confirmed the details, click on ‘Submit’ and you are done
A successful e-filing prompt can be seen on your screen once you are done with all the above steps. Then a form called ITR-V is generated. Now you have to verify your return through either one of the following
1. Aadhaar OTP
2. Bank account number
3. Demat account number
4. Registered mobile number
5. Net banking
6. Bank ATM
7. Sending a physical copy of the acknowledgement to the Centralised Processing Centre (CPC) in Bengaluru via postY
our Income Tax Return is now filed electronically.
As mentioned earlier in one of the steps, a salaried individual can opt for the following type of forms-
ITR-1 (Sahaj) - Salaried employees with income up to Rs 50,00,000 must file their return with ITR-1. An individual with more than one house property or with more than Rs 5000 income from agriculture can file their return with ITR-1
ITR-2 - This is the go-to form for individuals with income of more than 50,00,000. If an individual has more than one house property, they will also have to file with ITR-2. It is also applicable for individuals who generate income from capital gains and/or other sources, but not from profits or gains from business or profession.
ITR-3 - A salaried employee will file under ITR-3 when they have income from multiple sources like salary, business or profession, house property (one or multiple), capital gains, and other sources.
For a salaried employee filing an income tax return late essentially means attracting a penalty. A late filing fee will be charged under Section 234F of the Income Tax Act. The amount of the penalty will differ according to how late the individual has filed his income tax return. The late fees are shown below in the table
| Due Date to File an Income Tax Return | Penalty Applicable to Taxpayers with Less Than ₹5,00,000 of Total Income | Penalty Applicable to Taxpayers with Over ₹5,00,000 of Total Income |
| On or before August 31st | A late fee is not applicable in this case. | A late fee is not applicable in this case. |
| From September 1 to December 31 | ₹1,000 | ₹5,000 |
| From January 1 to March 31 | ₹1,000 | ₹10,000 |
So it is always better to file your income tax return on time.