Tax Filing

The process of tax filing involves submission of tax along with necessary documents declaring yearly income of the individual or company. In India the process of tax filing is governed by the Ministry of Finance. The Ministry of Finance of Government of India has different departments that are involved with the process of tax collection.

The most important department that is associated with the process of tax filing in India is the Department of Income Tax, Government of India. The corpus accumulated from individuals and companies as income tax are forwarded to the Ministry of Finance, Government of India. The revenue so collected is used to run the Government of India machineries. The whole process of tax filing in India is done in accordance with the Income tax acts and rules as promulgated by the Department of Income Tax, Government of India. The main purpose of filing tax returns in India is to have records of structured information. The tax of an individual or a company is submitted against an account number which is an unique combination of alpha-numeric character called Permanent Account Number (PAN). This PAN enables the taxing authority to record each and every relevant details pertaining to tax declaration of a particular person or company in India. This is a fool proof process and there is no place for discrepancies.

Over the years the process of tax filing in India has made tremendous progress. Gone are the days when one had to wait for endless hours to see his yearly tax declaration being verified and accepted. Today, the department of Income Tax under the government of India has facilitated its citizens with e-fling process. The procedure involves filing of income tax returns over Internet. This has in fact simplified the arduous mechanical tax declaration process in India. Now an individual or company can file his tax according to his convenience by simply quoting the unique PAN. All the required information regarding filing process and necessary documents are mentioned therein. The concerned individual or company should fill-up the relevant electronic form according to the instructions given therein.

The important declarations that are to be made while undertaking the process of e-filing tax are as follows -

Information required for individual tax payer -

A copy of last year's tax return
Bank Statement
TDS certificates
Savings certificates / Deductions
Interest statement showing interest paid to the individual throughout the year

Information required for corporate tax payer -

A copy of last year's tax return
Bank Statement
TDS certificates
Savings certificates/Deductions
Interest statement showing interest paid to the corporate throughout the year
Profit and Loss Account
Balance Sheet

The procedure of tax filing is done strictly in accordance with the following acts and rules -

Tax Filing Acts

Finance Act, 2007- An Act to give effect to the financial proposals of the Central Government for the financial year 2007-2008
National Tax Tribunal (Amendment) Act, 2007 - An Act to amend the National Tax Tribunal Act, 2005
Taxation Laws (Amendment) Act, 2006 - An Act further to amend the Income-tax Act, 1961, the Customs Act, 1962, the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 and the Central Excise Act, 1944
Finance Act, 2006 - An Act to give effect to the financial proposals of the Central Government for the financial year 2006-2007
Taxation Laws (Amendment) Act, 2005 - An Act further to amend the Income-tax Act, 1961 and the Finance Act, 2005
National Tax Tribunal Act, 2005 - An Act to provide for the adjudication by the National Tax Tribunal of disputes with respect to levy, assessment, collection and enforcement of direct taxes and also to provide for the adjudication by that Tribunal of disputes with respect to the determination of the rates of duties of customs and central excise on goods and the valuation of goods for the purposes of assessment of such duties as well as in matters relating to levy of tax on service, in pursuance of article 323B of the Constitution and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto
Finance Act, 2005 - An Act to give effect to the financial proposals of the Central Government for the financial year 2005-2006
Finance (No. 2) Act, 2004- The following Act of Parliament received the assent of the President on the 10th September, 2004, and is hereby published for general information:- An Act to give effect to the financial proposals of the Central Government for the financial year 2004-2005
Finance Act, 2004- An Act to continue for the financial year 2004-05 the existing rates of income-tax and the levy of the National Calamity Contingent Duty and the National Calamity Contingent Duty of Customs on certain items

Tax Filing Rules

Income-tax (Fourteenth Amendment) Rules, 2007- In exercise of the powers conferred by section 295 read with sub-section (2) of section 17 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (43 of 1961)
Income-tax (Thirteenth Amendment) Rules, 2007
Income-tax (Twelfth Amendment) Rules, 2007
Income-tax (Eleventh Amendment) Rules, 2007
Income-tax (Ninth Amendment) Rules, 2007
Income-tax Welfare Fund Rules, 2007
Wealth-tax (First Amendment) Rules, 2007
Post Office (Monthly Income Accounts) (Amendment) Rules, 2007
Directorate of Income-tax (Systems), Joint Director (Systems), Deputy Director (Systems) and Assistant Director (Systems) Recruitment (Amendment) Rules, 2007
Income-tax (Eighth Amendment) Rules, 2007

India Income Tax Returns