Have You Filed Your Income Tax Return? Five Ways To Verify It

The Income Tax Department on Thursday gave assessees an extra month to file their ITR or income tax return for assessment year 2018-19 without any penalty. With that, August 31 became the new deadline for you to file your income tax return this year. Previously, assessees were required to file their income tax return by July 31. Therefore, if you haven't already filed your income tax return, now you have until August 31 to learn about the ITR filing procedure. However, filing or submission of an income tax return is not all. The Income Tax Department has mandated the public to also verify the income tax return after submitting it. The taxman offers several ways such as mail, net banking, ATM and Aadhaar - to verify an ITR once it is submitted. (Also read: Find out which income tax return form is for you)

- Instantly e-verify your Income Tax Return with Aadhaar OTP.

- No need to send ITR verification form physically.#BenefitsOfAadhaar pic.twitter.com/8cAcoRTj6t

Traditionally, income tax assessees used to get their ITR submission verified by way of sending a signed ITR-V form to the Centralized Processing Centre (CPC), Bengaluru. Other than that, the Income Tax Department supports five ways to get an ITR verified. These are: Aadhaar OTP, bank ATM, bank account, demat account and net banking.

(Also read: Want to win Rs 5 crore in six months? Be an informant for I-T department)

Here are five ways to verify your income tax return ITR after it is submitted:

1. Through Aadhaar OTP

ITR verification can also be done using an Aadhaar card. For this, the user is required to log into the taxman's e-filing portal. He or she is then required to submit the ITR by selecting "Aadhaar OTP" as verification mode. Once this is done, the OTP or one-time password is sent to the mobile number registered with the Aadhaar card. This OTP is to be filled in the given field on the e-filing portal. The ITR verification process gets completed after the user provides this OTP.

2. Through bank ATM

After logging into an ATM using a debit or ATM card, the user may select the 'PIN for e-filing' option to verify his or her ITR. According to the Income Tax Department, this facility is also available in select banks. That means if you are not sure whether your bank provides this facility, you may check the available options the next time you use your debit card at an ATM. After this step, an EVC is sent to the registered mobile number. This code can be shared with the taxman through the e-filing portal. Once you have your EVC with you, you may log into the e-filing portal and select "already generated EVC through Bank ATM" as verification mode. After this step, submit your ITR and then enter the EVC in the given field. This completes the ITR verification process.

3. Through bank account

An ITR can also be verified directly through the taxman's e-filing portal. The user is required to log into the income tax e-filing portal. Once logged in, the user can select the 'Profile Setting' option to "pre-validate" his or her bank account. This service, the taxman mentions, is only available for select banks. The user may proceed by choosing 'EVC' as verification method, using the pre-validated bank account. After the user submits the ITR, an EVC or electronic verification code is sent to the user's registered mobile number. The user is required to enter this code in the given field on the e-filing portal. This completes the ITR verification process.

4. Through net banking

For this, the assessee is required to login into his or her net banking account. Once logged in, the user may find and click on the 'e-filing' link. This redirects the user to a particular section on the Income Tax Department's e-filing portal - incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in. Using this link to submit an ITR ensures that the same is verified.

5. Through demat account

This method is similar to the previous method. After logging into the e-filing portal and selecting the 'Profile Setting' section, the user may proceed by choosing "EVC using DEMAT account" as verification mode, according to the taxman. After submission of ITR, the user receives an EVC on his or her mobile number. Furnishing this code on the given field on the e-filing portal completes the process of ITR verification.

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