Online Tax Filing Software That Work Best for filing State Returns

Various tax filing software is designed to make the process of filing tax returns easier and more efficient. The many facilities provided by the software make it simple for the user and also provide quicker solutions. There is several software solutions available for filing IT returns in India of which majority are third-party private players.

The Provisions Provided by Income Tax Software

An Income Tax Filing Software does the following actions:

• Analyze the tax details provided by the applicant
• Assess the slab rates and prepare and come up with the amount due by the applicant to the governing body
• Provide different services for an individual or an organization
• File the Income tax for those taxpayers whose annual income is greater than Rs 5 lakhs per annum.

Features of an ideal Income Tax Software

Every software service offering Income Tax Returns in India offers the following features:

• Auto filing of reports that reduces time
• Auto generation of reports
• All the government slab rates are covered
• Every little detail of the calculation is listed in a comprehensive manner
• Provides room for integration with other software that is designed to carry out income tax returns like eTDS software and other related ones
• Different computations employed for different kinds of applicants like individuals, companies, local bodies etc.
• Easy generation of Income Tax Returns Report
• The bills created for online payment will have the deductions made as per the requirements
• Verification process is promptly handled
• Offers opportunity to the applicant to calculate the advance tax payments
• Backup and restore facilities offered for the data provided
• Facility to pay online even without mainstream filing

What to look out for in a software for filing state returns?

If you are planning to purchase software to file your state returns, look for the following aspects of the tool that should be present to make your job easier:

• Get to know on the user interface of the tool. The softwares offered by both government and private developers have different versions of the interface and hence it is necessary to be familiar with them.
• It should be fully compliant with the income tax standards and meet all the regulatory requirements
• The time taken to generate reports should be short and the filing of returns should be done quickly with more efficiency. This is especially important for corporations and other business bodies
• Check for the different modules under the software. These modules are very important to he database and an absence of this can cause error in calculation
• Report maintenance by the software is extremely important. This is important for future reference and verifications.

Software Recommendations

The government software offers free services irrespective of the type of IT form you use. The private websites offer the basic e-filing service free of cost, but further operations will cost the applicant.

Here is how you proceed while choosing apt software for filing state returns:

• Consider the income slab under which you had earned an income in the previous financial year.
• Approach two or three websites. You can contact them through their chat feature or through phone
• Get to know the filing process that pertains to your case
• Choose the one based on the above mentioned tips

Some of the successful private websites in India are:

Tax spanner

The company sends an e-file through email. You have to send them your Form-16. The income tax return for your particular state is prepared by the software. The draft is sent to you for review and payment.

There is a hyperlink in Form 16 where the applicant has to click to convert the data into ITR. This process is encrypted and is secure. There is a different cost for each package.

ClearTax.com

ClearTax provides different plans for different types of applicants. The different plans are:

• Basic Plan: For new joiners/salaried employees with a single Form-16/ salaried employees with a single property
• Savings Plan: for salaried employees with multiple Form-16/ salaried employees with multiple properties
• Comprehensive Plan: for salaried employees with capital gains from property or stock/ salaried employees with shares in domestic companies/ PSU employees with salary arrears H&R Block

This website too offers different kinds of tax filing services. They are:

• Self-filing which is basic filing that should be carried out by the applicant and is free of cost

• In person filing which happens offline

• Online tax filing where an expert prepares and files based on the information provided by the applicant online

Tax Spanner

This website too offers different categories. Each category has three different plans namely the Plus plan, Assisted plan and Optimizer plan. The different categories offered are:

• Salary e-file
• Investor e-file
• Business e-file

Tax Spanner is amongst the few websites that do not offer free services for even basic filing. While choosing the website, do not choose based on the cost alone. Every kind of applicant needs different services. Get help, plan and choose as per your needs.