Mobile & E-Mail Validation before ITR filing (Using 4 steps)
A summary of mobile and email verification prior to filing your Income Tax Return.
In this post, we will look into the important pointers for Mobile and Email validation using various steps before filing your Income Tax Return.
The Income Tax Department has introduced validation of mobile number and email id to benefit the taxpayers like you and me.
There is a flaw in the direct communication between the department and you due to incorrect/invalid Email ID and mobile. Therefore, you will not receive any official information.
Forgot password
A 10- digit alphanumeric Electronic Verification Code (EVC) is sent to your registered mobile number for the e-verification.
The e-verification options available are:
- Answer a Secret question
- Upload DSC
- Adhaar OTP
- Using e-filing OTP
E-verification by answering a secret question:
You can reset the password using the ‘Forgot Password?’ while logging in to your e-filing account and by providing the necessary details.
For this, you will have to answer the question with the answer set by you during the time of registration.
E-verification by uploading DSC:
If you have your DSC registered in the portal, use the option to up-load the DSC and change your password.
E-verification by using e-filing OTP:
Then they will send a One Time Passwords (0TP) / PIN to the mobile and email provided by you during registration. You have to enter the OTP after logging into your e-filing account to authenticate it. This OTPS is only valid for 24 hours and for Foreign/ NRI tax- payers, the OTP validation of the email ID is sufficient.
But sometimes they can not reset their password because the OTP sent to their registered email. This can be different from the taxpayer’s personal email, e.g. email of their intermediary.
To tackle this problem, the department introduced a one-time password process for your mobile and email validation. So, when the taxpayer changes the Mobile Number or Email ID in their Profile, the validation process will be repeated.
It will also ensure that the Department can send an OTP for resetting the password when you forget the password.
E-verification by using Aadhaar OTP:
If you’re using the Aadhaar OTP method for e-verification , your Aadhaar should be linked to your mobile number.
An OTP is generated and it is sent to your registered mobile number. Then enter the OTP and click on submit.You can then see the Success page. This Aadhaar OTP is only valid for 10 minutes.
In any case, you will also be having the option to reset the password with the registered mobile number and mail-id at the portal.
You can see in the screenshot below how the recovery options for forget password varies for different category of taxpayer.
Primary and secondary contact
One can use a mobile number or email ID as thePrimary Contact for a maximum of 10 user accounts in e-Filing. So the family members/related business concerns (not more than 10 separate users) do not have personal email or mobile can be covered under a common one.
However, the taxpayers should have their own email ID and Mobile registered with the Department.
In addition, you can also enter another person’s email or mobile number, as a Secondary Contact. There is no restriction on the number of user accounts linked as a Secondary Contact.Using Profile setting -> My Profile you can select to include the Secondary Contact to receive emails, alerts etc.
Important Pointers
- Include the emails and SMS from Income-tax Department in the ‘safe list’ / ‘white list’ to prevent Messages from being blocked/rejected/sent to the Spam folder.
- Taxpayers should not share their user-id and password of their e-filing account with others for it may lead to unauthorised access.
- Update and authenticate the contact details under “Profile Settings > My Profile” after your login.
The Income Tax department needs full cooperation from you and me to complete this validation process at the earliest for a smooth and convenient return filing process.
This post on Mobile and Email vali- dation before ITR filling has come to an end. Share your views and opinions with us in the comment section.
