IT Return

July 31st being the last date for filing IT returns, me waited till the last date. In the past a good friend of mine used to file my IT returns. However this time, He aint free and me decided its time me take the bull by the horn (no animal dead or alive was intended to be hurt from this). Me decided let me file my own IT return standing in the serpentine queue at the IT office.My friend had helped me by providing the relevant forms (ITR-1 and acknowledgement form, just 2 of them). Filled up the same with great ease as most of the info was available on the form 16 provided by the employer.

On 31st, me went to the IT office near Queens road to play it out. Went there early only to find that the counter would open at 10 am. However, in the meanwhile found some people standing in queues. Upon investigation found that they were standing her for getting their PAN number verified (waived for those who bring along their PAN card or a copy of the same). This got over in around 15 mins, though me shuffled between queues to stand in that queue which will take me the shortest possible time. Once done, went over to the 4th floor of the building only to find that the lift in that building runs only upto 3rd floor (how strange). Then to my amazement found a really big serpentine queue. However just sat there on the cozy sofa in the reception. Once the counter opened, me found again the queue which was the shortest, only 3 were in front of me. Got the acknowledgement within minutes and me was off to office in a jiffy. Really felt happy as earlier me had thought that this would take atleast 2-4 hours and ruin my first half of the day. In the process felt happy and saved around 250 bucks which would have otherwise been paid to some accountant or middlemen.


4 simple steps to file IT return

1. Download relevant form (ITR-1 and acknowledgement form, just 2 of them) from the internet

IT Return forms are available at this link
http://www.incometaxbangalore.org/forms/forms.htm

Estimated time : Max 10 minutes

2. Fill up the forms with the help of form 16 provided by the employer (all details required to fill up the IT form will be there in the form 16.
Estimated time : 10 mins


3. Go to the IT department office and stand in the queue for
a. Getting the PAN number verified (waived for those who bring along their PAN card or a copy of the same)
Estimated time : 15-20 mins

b. Filing the return (i.e. Get the form duly stamped and acknowledged by the IT dept)
Estimated time : 10-15 mins

Total effort = 50-60 minutes only + some travel time to the IT office


P.S: A few years ago, one of my friend's brother told me that the term "IT return" is called so, bcoz we salaried employees would have already paid tax in the form of TDS and now when we file the return, the dept (of all people) would return us the excess, hence IT Return!!!! LOL. Poor chap is a non-commerce graduate.