It’s that time of the year again when you need to file your end-of-financial year income tax return, but is the plethora of paperwork bogging you down? The Union government has just made things easier by launching the facility of filing income tax returns online.
The advantages of filing your tax returns online are plentiful. For instance, you can file your returns anytime, anywhere, away from the prying eyes of others and within the confines of your own home. However, you do need to ensure that you protect your personal information online. It is no coincidence that identity theft rate related to tax return filing rises in keeping with the increasing popularity of online tax filing.
With thousands of taxpayers heading online to file their returns in time ahead of the deadline, here are five easy-to-follow tips for them to follow in order to protect themselves this season.
Be sceptical of emails that feature Web links: Those links can be part of a phishing scam that takes you to look-alike Web pages designed to steal your sensitive personal information from PAN numbers to credit card account. If you need to log in, do so independently and through the log-in Web page -- and not by clicking on a link.
When you file your taxes, make sure you've reached the correct Web site: One easy way is to look for a green address bar that indicates that the website is authentic.
Make sure you are entering your personal information in a secured session: You can do this by checking 'https://'. A Web address starting with 'https' means that there is an encrypted connection between your browser and the website's server, indicating that communications are secure and cannot be intercepted.
When you finish your taxes, be sure you've logged out of your browsing session: If you don't log out, fraudsters can potentially log in to your session after you leave the site.
Do not respond to any tax issues or requests using fax: You might receive an email spam requesting for a fax with personal information to be sent back to "the income tax department". The income tax department will never request personal information via fax.
With these simple precautions, you can file your taxes online with confidence.
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