Adopt Efiling for Its Ease and Security

In 2007, the Income Tax Department started the facility to e-file income tax return (ITR) online for individual taxpayers, under its agenda of e-governance. Today, e-filing of ITR is among the most popular facilities introduced by the government of India. In the Financial Year 2011-12, more than 16 million returns were filed online. That is 4000% growth in 5 years. However, the adoption of this facility is still to reach its optimum penetration once people realize how secure and easy online tax filing is.
Efiling Income Tax Returns: Simpler than Ever
Cutting edge technologies have made solutions more user-friendly in terms of ease-of-use. Appealing user interface and smooth navigation make the experience easier than ever. Who could have imagined 5 years ago that filing your ITR could be as simple as a single click? Yes, that’s how easy and fast it is today. Anybody with a digital Form 16 can attach this document and email it to get the return e-filed instantaneously. Moreover, there are platforms that provide 1-click e-filing solution to the employees of large organizations, from within the payroll software. What has been simplified here to a great degree is the process of information collection. Leading efiling websites provide return preparation and filing service that automatically retrieves the relevant data from Form 16, Form 16A, Form 26AS, bank statements, and, brokerage statements. This eliminates the need for the user to find required details from various sources and fill all the entries manually. Moreover, users can be free of worries with respect to selecting the appropriate form (ITR1, ITR2, ITR4, etc.). The portal does that on its own.
E-return intermediaries, who are authorized by the government of India, have considered the complexities in the preparation of tax return. Their portals automate the complete tax computation through the inbuilt applications. Accuracy is guaranteed. Further, with all interactions with the Income Tax Department going electronic, e-filing becomes the preferred choice. Its 24*7 availability anywhere, as a facility, takes away the hassle of standing in queues, saving time and effort to assure peace of mind.
Stay Safe with E-filing
Users should not be scared of e-filing their returns because of concerns around how secure their personal financial information is. The best practices in the industry today include employment of technologies that have put various checks in place. For instance, on some trusted private websites which use the most sophisticated technology, information entered by any user does not flow directly into the database. Every entry is stored in an encrypted format, preventing access breach. There are multiple layers in between that ensure shielded flow of data and storage on the database as per well-defined protocol. The transmission is secured over SSL.
Most authorized e- return intermediaries, evaluated for their security and confidentiality, store only relevant data. They do not store any information related to credit card or payment details. Similarly, session related information is never stored in cookies directly. Instead, a session ID is allocated, mapping to session data stored on the back­end. Session timeouts and captcha are implemented to safeguard against Denial of Service attacks.
There are certifications like the CERT-In (Indian Computer Emergency Response Team, Department of Information Technology, Govt. of India) for Information Security Audit for hardware/software and security compliance. Such certifications attest the fact that service providers audited for them are free from any vulnerability and malicious code, which could be exploited to compromise and gain unauthorized access with escalated privileges.
Directly related to the security is the company’s privacy policy. Do confirm that it tells you about the collection, use and disclosure of information, and that none of it is shared with any third party.
Adopt Self E-filing of tax returns
With e-filing becoming mandatory from AY2012-13 for individuals with total income above Rs. 10 lakh and for those having assets abroad, electronic return filing will become the preferred way of filing for all the taxpayers. Your tax return mirrors your financial affairs. The understanding of your finances starts with your tax return. If you are able to understand and prepare your tax return independently, half of the battle of financial well-being is already won. With e-filing through e-return intermediary websites, you can manage your taxes with ease and security!