Now, Use 'One-Time Password' to E-File Income Tax Returns

The Income Tax Department on Monday launched its ambitious One Time Password (OTP) based e-filing verification system for taxpayers, thereby ending the practice of sending paper acknowledgement to its office in Bengaluru.

The facility can be accessed using internet banking, Aadhaar number, ATM and email. According to the rules notified in this regard by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) on Monday, any taxpayer, whose income is Rs. 5 lakh or below per annum and has no refund claims, he or she can straightaway generate the 'Electronic Verification Code' (EVC) for e-filing and validating their Income Tax Return (ITR) through their registered mobile number and e-mail id with the department.

However, this most simplified option, will be subject to certain "restrictions" which will be prepared by the taxman based on the concerned taxpayer's "risk criteria and profile" in a case-to-case basis.

"This simply means that if the department has some adverse observation against the said PAN number with income less than Rs 5 lakh, he or she will not be allowed to do the verification directly through their email and mobile number alone and such cases will have to go through the other established procedures in this regard like linkup through Aadhaar database, internet baking or via the ATM," a senior official explained.

These new measures would completely eliminate the need of sending the paper acknowledgement, called ITR-V, through post to the I-T Central Processing Centre (CPC) based in Bengaluru.

In the other options given, those taxpayers who have internet banking activated can do the e-verification of their ITR. "The facility will be available on the internet banking website and the verifier (taxpayer) will use this facility using internet banking id, login password and transaction password," the latest CBDT rules said.

Once logged in on the banking portal, the taxpayer will be sent the EVC to his mobile number provided in the official e-filing web portal of the department which they will put in their ITR for final submission.