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Tax time and benefits: India.
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Tax time and benefits: India
Handout · moraph.org/commons/sessions/fluent/tax-time-and-benefits
Filing a return can be how refunds, credits and some benefits reach you. This sheet has what to keep, how to spot a scam, and the free official help where you live.
Why file
- Tax taken from your pay may come back
- Some credits are only paid if you file
- Some benefits use your tax information
Free help first
- Look for free official help before paying
- Ask a paid preparer the full price first
- A refund loan is a loan: ask what it costs
Keep these
- Copies of every return you file
- Income statements and receipts for claims
- Every letter from the tax or benefit office
Scam signs
- Threats of arrest over tax
- Payment by gift card, crypto or payment app
- A refund link sent by text or email
- Go to the official site yourself to check
In India
- Use the official e-Filing portal. The Income Tax Department’s e-Filing portal has a wizard to help you choose the correct income tax return (ITR) form, pre-filled returns, and step-by-step user manuals and videos. If you want help, you can add a chartered accountant, an e-Return Intermediary or an authorized representative through the portal.
- Check the pre-filled details. When you file, review the pre-filled information, such as income from salary, pension or interest, and correct or add to it where needed. Pre-validate at least one bank account on the portal so that any refund can be paid into it.
- Verify within 30 days. After you upload a return, you must e-verify it or send the signed ITR-V within 30 days. If you verify later, the verification date counts as your filing date, with the consequences of late filing; a return that is never verified is treated as invalid.
- Check a notice is real. The e-Filing portal’s Authenticate Notice/Order service lets anyone, registered or not, check whether a notice, order or letter really came from the Income Tax Department.
- Tax phishing. The Income Tax Department never asks for your PIN, passwords or similar access details for cards, bank or other financial accounts by email. Don’t click links or open attachments in a suspicious email; you can forward phishing emails to the government’s CERT-In at incident@cert-in.org.in.
- Finding benefits. myScheme, a national government platform, lets you search central, state and union territory schemes by entering details such as age, income and category, and explains eligibility, documents and how to apply.
Official places to check:
- Income Tax Department: www.incometax.gov.in/iec/foportal/help/assissted-filing
- Income Tax Department: www.incometax.gov.in/iec/foportal/help/how-to-file-itr1-form-sahaj
- Income Tax Department: www.incometax.gov.in/iec/foportal/itr-v-faqs
- Income Tax Department: www.incometax.gov.in/iec/foportal/help/how-to-authenticate-notice
- Central Board of Direct Taxes: www.incometax.gov.in/iec/foportal/sites/default/files/2020-08/Press-Release-Anti-Phishing-email-05-02-2016.pdf
- myScheme (Government of India): www.myscheme.gov.in
More free official help in India: moraph.org/commons/help/financial-literacy/in
General information, not advice about your own situation. Checked 20 October 2026. If an official source says something different, it is right. Free to copy and adapt. moraph.org/commons/sessions/fluent/tax-time-and-benefits