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How to File ITR (Income Tax Returns) on ClearTax? – Income Tax e-Filing Guide For FY 2023-24

Q: How to get an income tax return copy online?

Log on to www.incometax.gov.in with credentials.Click on ‘e-File’> ‘View Filed Returns’.A window displaying a list of ITR filed will open.Now go to the relevant assessment year and ‘Download Receipt’.The ITR-V acknowledgement will be downloaded.

By Ektha Surana

Updated on: Jun 14th, 2024

63 min read

It’s time to take taxes off your mind because filing with Cleartax is easier than ever! Here is a step-by-step guide on filing your ITR (Income Tax Returns) on Cleartax for the financial year 2023-24.

How to File ITR? – Steps to e-File Your ITR

ITR e-Filing – Documents Required

To begin, gather the following documents to pace up the process:

PAN
Aadhaar
Bank account details
Form 16
Other Income information
Investments details

Login

Create an Account or Login with ClearTax

Create a new account or simply click on Login if you are already a user of ClearTax.

Link Your PAN

Linking your PAN allows us to submit your return to the income tax department.

If you are filing with us for the first time, you need to link your PAN by entering your PAN, Date of Birth, and the OTP received on your registered mobile number. You can verify the OTP using either your 'Aadhaar registered mobile number' or ‘IT Department registered mobile number.’

Pre-fill Your Personal Information

If you have previously filed with Cleartax and your PAN is already linked, you will directly see the autofill screen. To pre-fill your information from the income tax department, you will need to complete another OTP verification. This OTP verification is to capture all your personal information and income details in your income tax return with maximum security of your data.

If you choose the 'IT Department' option, you will need to enter two OTPs, one sent to your mobile number and the other to your email.

Too many OTPs can seem a lot of effort, but it is totally worth it! Most of your information will be auto-filled. This saves you nearly 2 hours of your time that would have been spent manually entering and correcting details. Review the auto-filled information and modify if necessary.

Upload Form 16

Scroll down and find the 'Upload Form 16' option. By uploading your Form 16, your salary details will be automatically captured. If you do not have Form 16, you can still proceed directly to e-filing by clicking on “Continue to e-file”. You can also upload multiple Form-16's if you have switched jobs in the Financial Year.

Note: If you prefer skipping the pre-fill option, you can manually enter the details.

Here, you will see 4 tabs: Personal Info, Income Sources, Tax Saving and Tax Summary.

Personal Information

All your personal details like name, address and other details will appear here. You can expand each section and review these details. You also have the option to edit them, if required.

Income Sources

Go to the ‘Income Sources’ tab.

Salary

If you didn't upload Form 16 earlier, you can upload it here and fill in the salary details.

Rental Income or House property

Enter the income from house property, considering whether you occupy the house or have rented it out.

Capital gain

If you have sold assets like stocks, mutual funds, Gold, bonds, shares received as a part of ESOP or RSU scheme, land or building, then the profit/loss from such transactions must be reported under capital gains section.

1. Stocks and Mutual Funds:

Simply choose your stockbroker from the available options and log in to your investment account. Your capital gains will be calculated within seconds. Cleartax can effortlessly import and process thousands of transactions from your profit and loss (P&L) report to accurately determine the capital gains amount.
If you have done any intraday transactions, they will be automatically categorized as business income rather than capital gains.
We don’t have the login option for some brokers yet, but you can directly drag and drop or upload the P&L report here.
If your broker is not listed, you can download the excel template, fill in the required details, and upload the completed template.
For mutual funds, you should upload the P&L report from CAMS or Karvy by selecting their respective icons. You can also navigate to the "Mutual Funds" tab, where you will find CAMS, KARVY, and a few other brokers. Upload the P&L report here and your capital gains will be computed. If you have non-demat mutual funds, please upload files from both Karvy and CAMS. However, if you don't have the excel files or if your broker's name is not listed, you can manually add the details as well.

2. US or foreign stocks

A separate section is dedicated to reporting capital gain details from foreign stocks. Similar to stocks, you can either import the details directly from your broker. Currently, we support transactions from brokers like INDMoney and Vested. Even if your broker isn't mentioned, you can use our excel template to report all the transactions at once.

3. ESOPs and RSUs

If you have sold the shares received under ESOP or RSU scheme, you can add the following details under this section:

type of shares (that is, whether they are listed or not listed),
date of purchase and sale and
value of purchase-sale and brokerage expenses.

Your capital gains will be calculated.

Likewise, you can add details for all the other assets like Bonds, gold, land and buildings

Professional, Freelancing and Business Income

So broadly, there are 5 sub-sections here:

The first section is 44ADA- this is for professionals.
The income tax law has specified a few professions and made it clear that only these professionals can opt for 44ADA:
- Legal
- Medical
- Engineering
- Architecture
- Accountancy
- Technical Consultancy
- Interior Decoration
- Film Artists like cameraman, producer, editor, actor, director, singer, etc are specified.

Under the “Nature of Business”, you will find approximately 40 codes. Select the appropriate code. If you're unsure of the code, simply search for your profession. Also, mention the trade name and description. If you have multiple professions, you can include them all.
The next condition here is that your revenue should be less than equal to 75 lakhs. If your revenue is more than 75 lakhs, you will have to file taxes normally and you will not be eligible to opt for the presumptive scheme. Revenue is nothing but the total amount you have received for the service offered. It is also called gross receipts. Some folks call it consultation fees. For example, if you are a practicing lawyer and your clients pay you 1 lakh rupees towards a case, that 1 lakh would be considered as Revenue.
The other condition is that your expenses cannot be more than 50% i.e. by default it is assumed that your expenses or cost will not be more than 50% of your income. Say your revenue is 20 lakhs, then your expenses has to be up to 10 lakhs. You can show a lower amount say 7 lakhs, then you’ll pay taxes on 13 lakhs but you cannot show a higher amount than 10 lakhs. Let’s add 12 lakhs. If you enter an incorrect amount, you will see error prompts immediately which will guide you whether you are eligible for the presumptive scheme or not. So there is no scope of mistake here.

You are required to disclose all the assets and liabilities associated with your business profession. Although these values do not directly affect your tax return, they must be reported as per regulations.
- Sundry creditors refer to the outstanding amounts you were yet to receive as of March 31st, 2024, for the services you provided during the fiscal year 2023-24. Similarly, debtors are the individuals or entities to whom you owed money as of March 31st, 2024.
- A secured loan is one in which you provide collateral, such as your property or gold jewellery, as security. Other loans would be classified as unsecured.
- If you received advances as of March 31st, 2024, without having initiated or provided any services related to that payment, you should include that amount under advances.
- If you have provided advances to others, you should categorize it as an asset.
- If you use items like furniture, desktop computers, or phones for work purposes, you can list them under fixed assets.
- You can determine your bank balance as of March 31st, 2024, by referring to your passbook. Include this amount under ‘Bank Balance.’ If you remember the amount of cash you had on hand on that date, include it under ‘Cash balance.’
- Stock-in-trade represents the value of your inventory at the end of the year. This may not be applicable to you. You can enter zero and proceed.
Now let’s look at the second section, i.e. 44AD
44AD is mainly for small businesses say a private tutor, web designer, freelance content writer, small business owners. Just like there were some conditions under 44ADA, there are some conditions for 44AD too.
- The first condition is that your turnover, i.e. nothing but your sales, must be less than 3 crores and
- the second condition is that your profit must be more than or equal to 8% of your turnover. So if your revenue is say 1 crore, then your profit should be atleast 8 lakhs and you will have to pay taxes on this profit.
But if you have received the money through digital means, then you can pay taxes on only 6% profit instead of 8%. Even if you have received them through Phonepe or GooglePay, that would be considered as digital means. Here again, you will have to select the nature of business, trade name etc There are nearly 200 codes you can choose from.
Add the sales amount you’ve received through digital and non-digital modes separately here. The profit for digital transactions should be atleast 6% and for non-digital it should be atleast 8%. Now you can fill up the assets and liabilities details and proceed.
There will be some freelancers who would be working independently and running unrelated small businesses too. So they can declare income under both 44AD and 44ADA, as long as the conditions are met.
If your revenue and expense conditions are not met, then you can fill in all the details under the third section. We will automatically select the correct ITR form for you, i.e. ITR-3.
You can add all your other business income here and fill up the Balance sheet and P&L
You have to fill all the Financial particulars if you have the presumptive income. You are required to disclose all the assets and liabilities associated with your business profession. Although these values do not directly affect your tax return, they must be reported as per regulations.
- Sundry creditors refer to the outstanding amounts you were yet to receive as of March 31st, 2024, for the services you provided during the fiscal year 2023-24. Similarly, debtors are the individuals or entities to whom you owed money as of March 31st, 2024.
- A secured loan is one in which you provide collateral, such as your property or gold jewellery, as security. Other loans would be classified as unsecured.
- If you received advances as of March 31st, 2024, without having initiated or provided any services related to that payment, you should include that amount under advances.
- If you have provided advances to others, you should categorize it as an asset.
- If you use items like furniture, desktop computers, or phones for work purposes, you can list them under fixed assets.
- You can determine your bank balance as of March 31st, 2024, by referring to your passbook. Include this amount under ‘Bank Balance.’ If you remember the amount of cash you had on hand on that date, include it under ‘Cash balance.’
- Stock-in-trade represents the value of your inventory at the end of the year. This may not be applicable to you. You can enter zero and proceed.

Interest Income

You can also add the Interest income from savings bank account, deposits, P2P Investments, Bond Investments, PF investment, Income tax refund and any other interest income. If your AIS has it, we will auto-fill it; otherwise, you will have to fill it manually.

Dividend Income

The income earned as dividend from the companies in which you have invested has to be entered in the Dividend income page. If your AIS has it we will auto-fill it otherwise you will have to fill it manually.

Income from Crypto

Income from crypto can be imported by using ClearTax from your crypto wallets. You can also add cryptocurrency manually.

Other Income

Any other Income such as exempt income, agricultural income, online gaming, lottery, gifts, invoice discounting, income from retirement accounts, etc. has to be disclosed in the Other Income section.

Tax Saving

Deductions

Under the ‘Tax Savings’ tab, review the investment details (e.g. LIC, PPF, etc.) captured. If you want to add more tax-saving details, you can edit the fields and claim tax benefits here.

Tip: Do you have kids? Claim benefits on their tuition fees under Section 80C

Under 80TTA, you can claim as a deduction interest up to Rs 10,000 earned on your savings account maintained with a bank, post office, or co-operative society.

Carry forward of losses, AIS and Other Disclosures

If you had carried forward losses from last year, you can add them here and offset it with the gains. The Clear portal also allows you to make other important disclosures, as shown in the below screenshot. If any of these conditions apply to you, then enter those details and continue.

Taxes Paid

If you scroll down below, you can enter taxes-paid details. All the details of TDS and advance tax that you’ve paid will appear here. You can also add these details by uploading Form 26AS. If you’ve bought a car or if you’ve gone on a foreign vacation, tax may have been collected at source (TCS). That also gets filled from 26AS. And you can get this money back or adjust it with your taxes.

View Summary, Compare, and Switch Tax Regimes

On the next page, you will see a tax summary. Based on all the details you’ve added, we have auto-selected the ITR Form for you. Also, the best part about filing with us is that we auto-suggest the best tax regime for you that saves you the maximum taxes.
You can always compare your tax payable under both regimes and even switch to the other tax regime.
You can also view and download your tax report. Scroll down, and you can go through all the details filled by you in each section and edit any of these items. To proceed, click on ‘File tax’.

Make Payment

You can now make the payment for submitting your return through Cleartax.
Who doesn’t like some discount coupons while making a payment? Click on ‘view coupons’ and apply any of the relevant coupons and avail a big discount!
You can complete the payment from a host of payment options available.

Self-Declaration

Check the box and ‘Submit Declaration’.

ITR Submitted Successfully

After your return is submitted, e-verify your return to complete the filing process. If the ITR is not e-verified within 30 days then it will be considered as invalid ITR. After you have e-verified your return you will receive an acknowledgement number from the Income Tax Department. Keep it handy for future reference. You will also receive an SMS and e-mail from the Income Tax Department.

Check our guide on how to e-Verify your return.
Read our Guide on how to link your PAN with Aadhaar.

Rewards

Don’t forget to share the referral code with your friends and family to get a chance to win an Iphone 15 and also receive Amazon voucher of upto Rs. 150 for every successful filing.

Check ITR Status

You can log in back to Cleartax and track the status of your ITR - you’ll be able to view whether your ITR has been processed, and in case you are eligible for a tax refund, then you will also be able to check the status of your refund.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is income tax return filing important?

The income tax department has mandated to file the return to individuals only in case their income is above the basic exemption limit or if they meet specific criteria like expenditure on foreign travel is more than Rs 2 lakh and electricity consumption of Rs 1 lakh or more, deposits of an amount/aggregate of an amount above Rs 1 crore in one or more current accounts, and other conditions that the government will notify.

Later, the government provided additional conditions via a notification dated 21st April 2022. It has notified below conditions where the taxpayer is required to file ITR:

Total business turnover/sales/gross receipts during the FY exceeds Rs 60 lakh.
Total gross receipts of the profession exceed Rs 10 lakh during the FY.
The aggregate of TDS and TCS during the FY is Rs 25000 or more (for senior citizens, there is an increased limit of Rs 50,000).
Total savings bank account deposits are Rs 50 lakh or more during the FY.

Other scenarios where it is mandatory to file ITR includes:

In the case of a resident whose asset is located outside India or has signing authority for an account based outside India. It is always good to file your ITR even if you are not eligible due to the benefits.

Filing of ITR creates a valid proof of income.
ITR is required for applying for any loan in the future.
Banks require ITR even for applying for credit cards.
ITR is required for VISA applications, etc.
Hence it is advisable to file ITR even if your income is below the basic exemption limit.

What is income tax?

Income tax is a direct tax on your income. It means a portion of your income is paid to the government. The government charges this amount for expenditures related to health, education, providing subsidies to agriculture, infrastructure etc. It is paid by an individual/HUF/any taxpayer depending on income levels or gains in a financial year. A company has to pay income tax irrespective of the level of income. The government passes laws prescribing the rate of taxation on your income from time to time.

How to pay income tax online?

You have to pay your taxes before filing your tax return. If you are a salaried individual, then most of your tax liability is deducted from your salary by your employer in the form of TDS and paid to the government on your behalf. If you are liable to pay advance tax, you have to pay 90% of it before the 31st of March every financial year. You can file your ITR once the financial year ends.
The window to file ITR is generally open till the 31st of July of the relevant assessment year. However, the due date to file ITR may get extended, and the IT department will notify the same through notifications. It is always advisable to file your ITR within the due date. It’s worthwhile noting that you attract a late filing fee of Rs 5,000 on failing to file ITR within the due date of the assessment year.

How to save income tax?

There are many ways to save income tax through proper tax planning. Income tax Act provides certain deductions and exemptions that can be claimed, reducing your total taxable income and tax outflow. Below are some of the most common deductions and exemptions:

Deduction up to Rs 1.5 lakh under 80C – Investment in tax saving options like 80 C- investing in ELSS, LIC, mutual funds, the deduction for tuition fees for children, the deduction for the principal amount of home loan, etc.
Additional deduction of Rs 50,000 above Rs 1.5 lakh in 80 CCC(1B) for a contribution towards the National Pension Scheme of the Central government.
Section 80D allows deduction of the medical insurance premium paid for self, spouse, dependant children (Rs 25,000/50,000 ) and dependent parents (Rs 25,000/50,000)
80G allows a deduction for donations made to recognised institutions and trusts as per specified limits.
House rent allowance exemption is allowed partially or fully under Section 10(13A).
Deduction for higher education loan under Section 80E.
Deduction for a home loan paid under Section 24 up to Rs 2 lakh for the self-occupied and full amount if rented property

How to get an income tax return copy online?

Log on to www.incometax.gov.in with credentials.
Click on ‘e-File’> ‘View Filed Returns’.
A window displaying a list of ITR filed will open.
Now go to the relevant assessment year and ‘Download Receipt’.
The ITR-V acknowledgement will be downloaded.

How to file an income tax return online?

You can file your ITR return online through the income tax e-filing portal or Cleartax. If you wish to file the return through the government portal, you have to file it using the “Offline” mode or the “Online” mode.

In offline mode, you can log on to www.incometax.gov.in and download the JSON utilities of the appropriate ITR form from the tab Downloads>Income tax returns and download the utility of the relevant ITR form. A ZIP file will get downloaded. Please extract the ZIP file and fill all the relevant fields in the utility. The JSON file generated should be uploaded by logging in to your e-filing account. The verification of return through various options available and then submitted.
To file ITR through offline mode, log on to the e-filing portal using PAN, password and enter the captcha. Go to the ‘e-file’ tab and open the ‘File Income Tax Return’ link from the drop-down. Fill in the relevant details such as assessment year, submission mode, filing type and ITR type. Upload the JSON file generated and submit the return. In the next step, e-verify your ITR.

How do I know which ITR I need to file?

Different tax returns are prescribed for filing by individual taxpayers depending on their source of income and residential status. To determine the correct ITR to file, you can use the Help me decide which ITR Form to file option. You can then proceed to answer the questions displayed to you to determine the correct ITR form to file.

What is Advance Tax?

For salaried individuals, advance tax is mostly taken care of through TDS by employers. But other forms of income such as interest on savings bank accounts, fixed deposits, rental income, bonds, or capital gains increase the tax liability. One's tax liability needs to be estimated beforehand. If tax amounts to more than Rs.10,000/- per year, taxpayers need to pay advance tax in quarterly instalments (June, September, December and March).

Will I get a refund if I have paid excess tax?

Yes, any excess tax paid by you can be claimed as refund by filing your Income Tax Return. After your return is processed, ITD checks and accordingly accepts your refund claim, and then the amount is credited to your bank account. You will also get a message on your email ID registered on the e-Filing portal.

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About the Author

Ektha Surana

Content Marketer

Multitasking between pouring myself coffees and poring over the ever-changing tax laws. Here, I've authored 100+ blogs on income tax and simplified complex income tax topics like the intimidating crypto tax rules, old vs new tax regime debate, changes in debt funds taxation, budget analysis and more. Some combinations I like- tax and content, finance & startups, technology & psychology, fitness & neuroscience. Read more

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