|  Some tips before you file I-T...lest you miss out -
August 9th, 2007
Now, whether you file it through the e-mode or the qmode, rush hour filing may mean that you could inadvertently miss out on certain details & disclosures and be on the bad books of the taxman. But to start on a note of relief, let’s look at what you can afford to miss. The good news here is that the new return formats do not require filing of any annexure(s)/ papers/ certificates. In fact, not even the tax withholding certificate is required to be filed along with the return!
Needless to add, preserving the certificates that were required to be submitted along with the return in the past (that is, for TDS, donations claims, interest deduction, etc) would, however, go a long way to ensure that you come out of a meeting with your assessing officer (in case your return is picked-up for assessment) with a smile on your face.
Interest income
If your bank statements read very “interesting”, so should your tax return — a common blooper that most salaried tax payers tend to commit is the exclusion of interest income. Your assessing officer does not have to be a genius to guess that any person who maintains a savings/deposit account would normally also receive interest income and not disclosing the interest income may, therefore, be one sure way to get discomforting correspondence from the tax office, specifically having regard to the deletion of section 80L, which provided for a deduction in respect of interest income up to a certain prescribed limit.
Income from stocks
Another area prone to mistake would be missing on the details of your stints with stocks last year. It is only apt if the tax collector gets the tax due to avoid unnecessary attention. Note that even if the markets have not been kind, the loss would be allowed for carry forward for luckier times in future for setoff only if the same has been appropriately disclosed in the return.
Property gains
With the real estate market offering a bankable avenue for investment, tax payers who have opted to invest in an additional house would do well to discharge the taxes on its “annual value” — even if they did not earn a rupee from it. Please note that the tax law permits a “Nil” valuation only to one, self-occupied property. Thus, care should be exercised while determining the other incomes and the incomes that are required to be clubbed to avoid unnecessary action from the I-T department.
Refunds through ECS
The instructions mentioned in the form are very important, especially in a scenario where a refund is due to an assessee where the form requires disclosure of the communication address or the MICR code/ bank account number if a tax payer opts for refunds through ECS. One should double check the bank details, details of taxes deducted at source, etc, mentioned in the return by an assessee.
To guarantee a happy ending to your return filing season, the last thing you need to remember is the use of right return format. CBDT has recently notified new return formats, which depend on the nature of incomes earned, so don’t make the mistake of using the old forms picked-up last year just because they appear to be simpler. The above list could go on. Nonetheless, due consideration of the above would undoubtedly help a salaried person in filing his return while keeping an eye on the areas of likely scrutiny by revenue.
“Prevention is better than cure” still holds good here too.
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