Positive trend: Online filing of returns may become norm

The Income Tax (I-T) department, which has received online returns filed by over three lakh corporate organisations out of an estimated 3.75 lakh in the country, within the November 30 deadline, will now focus on the question of whether online returns should be made mandatory for salaried people as well. This will certainly affect Mumbai’s eight lakh-strong working class.

“The Centre will decide which segment of tax payers can file returns over the internet, but on our part, we can provide the requisite infrastructure for other segments as well, since three lakh corporate firms have already filed their returns,” says SS Gandhi, director, I-T (systems). “As of now, any taxpayer can opt to file e-returns and can access the I-T website and download the returns format.” Unfortunately, says another I-T official, the department did not publicise this enough.

Corporate compliance has been good this year, with Mumbai accounting for more than 40,000 returns, and Delhi registering over 60,000 online returns. “Salaried people will also eventually have to file online returns, with 100 per cent computerisation in the income tax department,” says Sunil Goyal, chairman of the western region council, Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI). Partnership firms, with an annual turnover of over Rs40 lakh, and businessmen with more than Rs10 lakh per annum income are, however, next in line for online filing.

Corporate houses may have kept to their November 30 deadline, but the process was not without problems. For instance, the original October 31 deadline had to be extended after some firms complained of glitches in the online filing software. “There are bound to be teething problems,” says Gandhi, “but we’ve overcome them and registered a healthy number of online returns.”

Kirti Vagadia, corporate finance head of the Suzlon Energy group of companies, said: “My employees spent more man hours trying to file online returns for the various Suzlon Group companies than was necessary.” Sanjeev Bafna, joint president and deputy chief financial officer of Grasim adds, however, that after 50 years of manual filing, one can’t expect 100 per cent perfection with an online service provider.

According to Goyal, after the number of returns crossed 60, 000 early November, the income tax website server was upgraded to allow as many as 15,000 returns to be filed every day. The department also set up a helpline at the regional head office for additional assistance.

Following three lakh online returns filed by corporates, the I-T department will now check with the various regional offices of the Registrar of Companies, to identify which organisations failed to file. “Although online filing was made compulsory by the Centre in July, several business houses had already filed returns on paper,” says Gandhi. “These will be valid for this fiscal.”