Mandatory E-filing of Income TAX Return
Press Release [No. 402/92/2006-MC (12 OF 2012)], dated 2-7-2012 was issued by the Central Board of Direct Taxes on 2 July 2012. Its subject is Mandatory E-filing of Income TAX Return.
Publicises notification S.O. 626(E) dated 28 March 2012, which makes electronic filing compulsory from assessment year 2012-13 for an individual or Hindu undivided family whose total income, or the total income in respect of which he or it is assessable, exceeds ten lakh rupees, and for a resident individual or Hindu undivided family holding assets outside India, including a financial interest in any entity, or having signing authority in any account outside India, who has to file in Form ITR-2, ITR-3 or ITR-4. For these taxpayers a digital signature is not mandatory: the data may be transmitted electronically and the verification then sent in Form ITR-V. Filing under digital signature was already compulsory for a company filing Form ITR-6, a firm filing Form ITR-5, and an individual or Hindu undivided family filing Form ITR-4 to whom section 44AB applies. The release adds that 1.64 crore returns were filed electronically in 2011-12, that such returns are processed at the Centralised Processing Centre at Bengaluru, and that refund tracking, the tax credit statement and processing alerts are available to those who file electronically.
It publicises the notification making electronic filing compulsory for the newly covered classes; no other reason is recorded.
MANDATORY e-FILING OF INCOME TAX RETURN
PRESS RELEASE [No. 402/92/2006-MC (12 of 2012)], dated 2-7-2012
CBDT has issued notification S.O. 626(E), dated 28th March 2012 vide which e-Filing has been made compulsory for Assessment Year 2012-13 onwards for :
• an individual or a Hindu undivided family, if his or its total income, or the total income in respect of which he is or it is assessable under the Act during the previous year, exceeds ten lakh rupees; and
• an individual or a Hindu Undivided Family (HUF), being a resident, having assets (including financial interest in any entity) located outside India or signing authority in any account located outside India and required to furnish the return in Form ITR-2 or ITR-3 or ITR-4.
However, digital signature will not be mandatory for these taxpayers and they can also transmit the data in the return electronically and thereafter submit the verification of the return in Form ITR-V.
2. Filing of returns electronically under digital signatures is already mandatory for any company required to furnish the return in Form ITR-6 or a firm required to furnish the return in Form ITR-5 or an individual or HUF required to furnish the return in Form ITR-4 and to whom provisions of section 44AB are applicable.
3. The Income Tax Department has received a record number of 1.64 crore income tax returns electronically in the year 2011-12. E-filing is an easy, fast and secure method of filing of income tax return. The electronically filed returns are processed at the Centralized Processing Centre, Bengaluru. The processing for e-filed return is faster and taxpayers get their refunds, if due, quickly. The Department also provides some value added services like tracking of refunds, viewing tax credit status (Form 26AS), e-mail and SMS alerts regarding status of processing and refunds to taxpayers who e-file their returns.
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Where a paper return for assessment year 2012-13 is treated as invalid, or where a foreign asset holder's filing obligation is in question.
Source: the Income Tax Department’s own published text — its page for this instrument.
