E-FILING OF INCOME TAX RETURNS IN INDIA ? AN OVERVIEW

In this technology driven age, every sector in the Indian economy is partly or completely affected by the world's most important invention of the modern times `Internet’. Income tax department is not an exception to it. Income Tax Department under the Ministry of Finance, Government of India is committed to provide world - class services to taxpayers in the country, making tax compliance easy and convenient for them. One of the initiatives of the Income Tax Department was the beginning of electronic filing (e - filing) of income tax returns (ITRs) to make the filing process easier for taxpayers as well as to reduce the time required for data entry on receipt of returns. E- Filing is a scheme for submitting tax documents to the Income tax department through the internet or direct connection, usually without the need to submit any paper documents. This paper deals with the benefits, process, trends & highlights (ITRs) of e-filing among the residents of the country.