The last date for filing your income tax return (ITR) for the financial year 2018-19 is July 31, 2019. In the first part of the series to help you understand the various terms and process of the ITR filing, we spoke about the relevant documents that you require to file your return.

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Also Read: Income Tax Return 2019: Keep these documents ready ahead of ITR filing

The task may seem tedious and overwhelming for the first time filers as one looks for the proper ITR form and the tax slab they fit into. Hence, in this second part of the series, here's a step-by-step guide as to how you can file your ITR forms after you have all your documents in place.

ITR Forms

Remember you are filing tax for the financial year 2018-19, and skipping the deadline of July 31 may get you penalised up to Rs 10,000. For the assessment year 2019-20, there are currently seven kinds of forms available for filing your tax return. ITR 1-3 can be used by individuals, while ITR 4-7 are used by corporates, businesses or associations. In case you are unsure as to which form to use, take help from your tax adviser or financial adviser.

An assessment year is the year that immediately follows the financial year for which you have been filing your returns. Since you are filing your returns for 2018-19, the assessment year would be 2019-20.

Also Read: Income Tax Returns: Avoid these mistakes while filing ITR form

ITR-1 is known as the Sahaj form, used mostly by the salaried individuals. If you have capital gains to declare, you can use ITR-2 and if you have an income from business or professional income, you can use ITR-3. If you use a wrong form to file the returns, it will be detected as a defective return and you will be required to file again.

ITR Filing

Once you are done paying all the taxes that were due, and you think you are eligible for any refund from the Income Tax department, you can start filing your ITR form. The form can be downloaded from the e-filing website in Excel or Java utility. In case you are eligible for ITR-1 and ITR-4, then the form can be filed online by choosing the option 'prepare and submit online,' without downloading any software.

E-Verification and Acknowledgment

Once you file the returns, the verification process starts. There are six ways to do the verification, which includes five electronic methods and one physical verification. The tax department allows you 120 days to verify it. In case you miss out on verifying the ITR, it will be deemed as NOT to have filed an ITR. If you miss the 120-day deadline, then you can file a request to your assessing officer.

If you are opting for the electronic verification, you are not required to send any physical documents by post to the IT department. However, if you wish to do it physically, you have to send a duly signed copy of

ITR-V/Acknowledgement to:

'CPC, Post Box no. 1, Electronic City Post Office, Bangalore - 560100, Karnataka, India.'

Processing of Returns

Once you are done verifying your ITR form via electronic ways, you will immediately receive the confirmation from the tax department regarding the same. If you have sent the verification document via post, the tax department will send you an email confirming that the ITR-V has been received to your registered email address.

Once the return verification is approved, the income tax department will start the process of verifying the returns filed by you as per the Income Tax Act and also crosscheck the other details filled by you. Once the process is complete, the IT department sends a confirmation email to you communicating the same. In case any discrepancies are observed, the tax department might ask you to explain or correct the mistakes.

First Published:Jul 17, 2019 3:12 PM IST