The Income Tax (IT)
department of India has requested all its tax payers to register a
valid email address and a mobile number on
the e-filing website before filing their returns this year. The deadline
for the same is July 31, 2014.
In many cases, it was observed that
the email ID of the individual’s chartered accountant was
provided by default at the time of filing the returns. So, the IT department‘s
communication has failed to reach the taxpayers or they have been unable to
reset the password.
The procedure is pretty much similar
to the one time password (OTP) used by banks for e-banking. Although most
salaried taxpayers registered their details last year, under the new rules,
they now have to validate their entries afresh as a security measure before filing
their returns.
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Assesses must initially log in to www.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in and
register their email address and mobile number. The department will then send
one time passwords (OTP), also called PIN, on the cell number and
the email ID. The taxpayers then have to enter their OTPs and e-filing account
within 24 hours for validation, failing which they have to repeat the
registration process.
·
If the tax payers change their mobile number or email ID in their
profile, they have to repeat the process of authentication. This validation is
to help the IT department to send an OTP for resending the log
in password, in case the taxpayer forgets it.
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The taxpayer can also provide the email ID or cell phone number of any
other person as a secondary additional contact. He/she also has the freedom to
include the contact to receive emails and alerts.
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The IT department has also urged users to include their emails and
messages in the ‘safe list’ or ‘white list’ to prevent them from being
sent to the spam folder, or from being blocked or rejected. This move is mainly
to avoid the ‘phishing scams’ that surround the process of IT returns.
·
For preventing unauthorized access, tax payers are also requested not to
share their user ID and password of their e-filing account with others. They
can make use of the ‘Forgot Password’ link to reset their password while
logging in to their e-filing account.
Source: vakilno.1