How to eFile Income Tax Return through NetBanking [<15 minutes]

Filing income tax returns is an annual chore...

But, fortunately, it gets easier each year.

Unlike years past, where filing through your CA was probably the easiest option, you can now go to the tax department's website or a tax aggregator and complete your filing without stepping out of your home.

If you are submitting your returns yourself, nothing beats the convenience of being able to efile through your net banking account.

Yes, your netbanking account can be used to efile your taxes. And the whole process takes less than a few minutes.​

In this post, I will do a quick walkthrough of this process...​

Two Benefits of e-filing through net banking

1. No need to remember a separate password

You file your return once a year.

And if you are like the majority, that probably means you visiting the tax department's website once a year too.

In all probability, this annual visit means that you won't remember your portal password and will have to reset it every single year.

And if it was your CA who created your account on your behalf, you will find it difficult to reset your password too.

You won't know the answers to secret questions and you won't have access to mobile numbers or email ids that your CA used.

Effectively, you are stuck.

However, if you file through net banking, you don't need to remember your efiling portal's password and you will be logged in automatically. Plus you are inside your efiling account, you will be able to change your personal details quite easily without resetting your password.

2. Easiest e-Verification

There was a time when you had to send your ITR-V to CPC Bengaluru necessarily. And this had to be sent via post.

Now, finding post office itself was a bit of a chore. It took most of us anywhere from a day to a week to find one and send ITR-V to Bangalore.

Then there was this additonal wait of anywhere from a week to a month for IT department to acknowledge receipt of your form.

Effectively, while actual IT returns took a few minutes,  the process of printing, sending and then waiting for final acknowledgement took many days if not weeks.

Fortunately, starting 2015, IT department has enabled e-verification. And there is no need to send a signed copy of ITRV form anymore. The entire verification process can be completed fully online now.

And amongst all these online everification options, the one through netbanking is the easiest.

If you have filed through netbanking, the everification will take just one click as your identity has already been authenticated when you logged into your net banking account.

Doesn't get easier than that.

With that, let's now look at the exact process of filing IT returns using your netbanking account...

Exact Step by Step Process

The first thing you should know before you try to efile through netbanking is that this facility is not available with every bank.

While most scheduled banks have it, most cooperative banks may not. Following is the list of 34 banks that can be used to efile your taxes:

List of banks who provide e-filing facility

1. State Bank of India
2. ICICI Bank
3. HDFC Bank
4. Axis Bank
5. Allahabad Bank
6. Andhra Bank
7. Bank of Baroda
8. Bank of India
9. Bank of Maharashtra
10. Canara Bank
11. Central Bank of India
12. City Union Bank
13. Corporation Bank-Corporate Banking
14. Corporation Bank-Retail Banking
15. Dena Bank
16. Equitas Small Finance Bank
17. IDBI Bank
18. Indian Bank
19. Indian Overseas Bank
20. IndusInd Bank
21. Karnataka Bank
22. Kotak Mahindra Bank
23. Oriental Bank of Commerce
24. Punjab National Bank
25. Punjab and Sind Bank
26. South Indian Bank
27. Syndicate Bank
28. The Federal Bank Limited
29. The Karur Vysya Bank
30. UCO Bank
31. Union Bank of India
32. United Bank of India
33. Vijaya Bank
34. Yes Bank

If your bank is not in this list of 34 banks, don't despair as IT department adds more banks everyday [You may check the latest list of authorized banks here]

If your bank is already in above list, the actual process of efiling is very easy.

For the purpose of more clarity, let's look at the exact steps involved if you try to file through ICICI or HDFC bank (top 2 private banks). The process for all other banks is pretty similar.

e-filing through ICICI bank

Step 1 - Login into your account.

Click on PAYMENTS & TRANSFER and then go to TAX CENTRE

Step 2 - In case you are asked to enter your OTP details to verify yourself, provide same.

Step 3 - Once you are inside Tax Centre, you will see many tax related options. Look for a section to e-file your taxes. This section will look something like below.

Click on E-FILE NOW

Step 4 - Verify your PAN number as well as your account number (relevant in case you have multiple accounts linked to the same netbanking login). Click SUBMIT.

Step 5 - Once you hit submit, you will be taken to IT portal and will be logged in automatically.

From here on, the process of filing your return is exactly the same as if you have logged in using your income tax portal's credentials.

You can click on 'Quick e-file ITR' to quickly file your return or download your old returns starting 2007-08 or avail of any other option in efiling portal as needed.

e-filing through HDFC bank

Step 1 - The process for HDFC bank is mostly similar, but you will need to access the efile link through the Requesttab. Click on this tab to open all the services offered by HDFC.

Step 2 - Once you click on Request tab, you will see a bunch of service options.

Scroll down till you see Income Tax E-Filing. Click on that option.

Step 3 - You will be taken to a confirmation screen.

If you have multiple accounts, choose the account you want to link with your IT portal.

Verify that your name and PAN number are exactly same as those with IT department and hit Continue.