Income Tax: This is how you can avoid errors on last day to file ITR

After getting extension by a week, today is the last day to file income tax return for the financial year 2016-2017.

If you have still not filed ITR, then do it right now as no more extension will be given. However, if you have filed your return found an error, do not panic. As you can still rectify it. Here's how.

Speaking with Zeebiz, Archit Gupta,Founder and CEO Cleartax.com, said that there are seven most common ITR filing mistakes and here's how you can avoid them: 

1. There are times when taxpayers earn interest income from sources like savings bank account and fixed deposits, this interest income has to be included in the tax return under the head of income from other sources.

2. Taxpayers often don’t know or don’t remember which bank account is associated with their income tax returns. This is a problem because people have many bank accounts and the right one has to be used while filing returns.

3. If someone has changed jobs in the year, they might have multiple income sources. But tax saving deductions under Section 80C can be used only once. Taxpayers have to make sure the deductions entered are accurate.

4. Income from house property can come in different forms and has to be computed accurately to be included in tax returns. The ITR form also changes when a salaried individual has income from house property.

5. Often, taxpayers earn capital gains from investments of different types. Short-term capital gains are taxed differently from long-term capital gains and have to be included at the time of computing income.

6. The ITR forms carry a number of rows and columns that need to be filled out at the time of filing one’s income tax returns. The details have to be entered in a particular format, which if not done properly can lead to errors in the returns. For example, dates have to be entered in the DD/MM/YYYY format only. If the date is entered in any other format, the returns would be incorrect.

CALCULATE YOUR INCOME TAX HERE

7. The process of filing income tax returns doesn’t get completed till the returns are verified. Your returns can be verified physically or electronically. The e-verification method is easy and quick when you use your netbanking account or generate an electronic verification code.

Moreover, do not forget to link your PAN card with Aadhaar number to process your ITR. While filing ITR you just need to quote Aadhaar Number but to process the ITR, you need to link PAN with Aadhaar.

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