Last month, it was announced that you can now e-verify using your bank account or demat account details as well
E-filing is a convenient way of submitting your income tax return (ITR), and e-verification is the process of verifying your ITR online through the e-filing portal of the income-tax (I-T) department. Until about a year ago, even if you e-filed, for it to become valid you had to either verify the same through a digitally signed certificate (DSC) or send the ITR verification (ITR-V) form to the Centralized Processing Centre in Bengaluru. In the last assessment year, e-filing was made completely paperless; you could e-verify if you had an Aadhaar number or Internet banking facility on your bank account. And last month, it was announced that you can now e-verify using your bank account or demat account details as well.
The process till now
For e-verification, you need to log on to https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/eFiling. Go through your e-filed returns and choose the one for which e-verification is pending. You can either choose to generate an Aadhaar-based one-time password (OTP) or an electronic verification code (EVC). EVC is a 10-digit alphanumeric series generated by the portal. You can choose to generate it through Net banking or have it sent to your registered mobile number and email. This EVC is valid for 72 hours. After you enter the OTP or EVC, your e-verification will be complete.
What’s new?
If you don’t have an Aadhaar or Internet banking facility, you can now use your bank account or demat account for e-verification. Using the e-filing website of the I-T department, you can pre-validate your bank account and demat account details. In case you want to use your bank account, you will have to provide your account number, Indian Financial System Code (IFSC), email address and mobile phone number. These details will then be validated against the details with your bank. The EVC that is generated will be sent by the portal to your email address and/or mobile number as verified by your bank. The list of banks participating in this process are available on the portal. Jan Dhan Yojana bank accounts can also be used for e-verification.
To generate an EVC using your demat account, you need to provide details such as your demat account number, email address and mobile phone number. Using these details, along with your Permanent Account Number (PAN), the validation will be done by the I-T department.
Details are checked against the information available with depository institutions such as the Central Depository Services Ltd (CDSL) or National Securities Depository Ltd (NSDL). The e-filing portal will send the generated EVC to your email address and/or mobile phone number as verified by CDSL or NSDL.
After the EVC is generated, you need to mention it in the ITR form for the final online submission. An acknowledge slip for the e-verification is available and can be downloaded.