Tax payers whose income is above Rs 5,00,000 should furnish the return of income electronically with or without digital signature.

E-filing can be done any place and anytime which saves time. Also, the e-filed returns are generally processed faster when compared to manually processed.

In case, if you do not furnish the return within the due date, you may have to pay interest on the tax due.

If you fail to file returns till the end of the assessment year, in addition to interest, a penalty of Rs 5,000 will be applicable.

So, do not miss the due date and file your returns before hand. Here are few websites where you can file your income tax returns online.

H&R Block

The H&R Block online application is customized as per client tax situation and it will allow an individual to e-Filing for free

The software auto-read the Form 16 which valuable time. There is also other facilities tailor made for NRI, US tax filing in India.

In premium tax filing service, there will be face to face assistance. The charges depend on the complexities starting at Rs 1999.

VitteTax

VitteTax is a product of Vittena, is new in the market and making a mark already. It allows individuals to file their taxes in two different modes with simplified tax filing procedure.

The highlight of Vittena is its India's first interactive tax planning tool. This planning tool thus helps improve your tax planning in accordance to the income you earn or as per your spend.

VitteTax's target audience are Salaried individual, Pensioner, Self-employed, NRIs, Persons seeking foreign employment

ClearTax

ClearTax is authorised by the government of India for e-filing. The site is simple to use and helps you prepare and file your taxes online.

The highlight of this site is women, senior citizen and Indian Defence Personnel can file Income Tax Return for free. Individuals who need CA assistance need to pay Rs 599-1,800 depending on the assistance.

For NRI, Cleartax can help you with your investments, work out your refunds and liabilities and e-file your Income Tax Return.

Taxsmile

TaxSmile allows individuals, NRI and corporates to files taxes. Tax filing is free for an individual who wants to do it by themselves. For Rs. 500, you can just upload Form-16 and leave the rest on Taxsmile.

TaxSpanner

TaxSpanner is said to be India's largest and most trusted website that offers online preparation and filing of individual Income Tax Returns (ITR).

This is the only site, where free facility is not available and charges start from Rs 449. State Bank if India customers can be benefited as they offer almost 50 per cent off. Ranked as the best online tax preparer by Money Today in 2009 and by Mint in 2010.

There are three different category Salary e-file, Investor e-file and Business e-file. Charges differ with plans like Plus, Assisted and Optimizer.

Income Tax India Income

Tax India is a website that offer tax related services by the Income Tax Department, Government of India. They have helpline numbers for the taxpayers which will be functioning 24*7 during the month of March. This is free for all tax payers.

It is important to remember that the last date for filing tax returns is Juy 31 each year. Currently, we have not seen the Income Tax Authorities relax these dates. We have selected some of the best websites, which are largely user friendly. There maybe few more websites that have come up. We also recommend that if your tax returns are rather complicated you seek the help of a Chartered Accountant.

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