File Income Tax returns from today

Buoyed by the success in the last two years, the department has increased the number of special counters from 90 to 110, this year.

The duration of the initiative, however, has been reduced from 16 days to 12 days. An I-T official sounded confident that the whole process would be completed in the reduced duration, as the scheme had become steady and a fully trained staff was on the job.

Counter timings

The counters will remain open from 9.30 am to 5 pm at the Palace Grounds and will function on Saturdays and Sundays as well. This year, the department has also set up ATM centres for helping the salaried class withdraw money and pay additional taxes, if necessary under Form 16.

Besides, a health centre has been opened by a private hospital for providing emergency healthcare free of cost.

There will also be “Permanent Account Number (PAN) Verification Counters” where people can trace their PANs if they have forgotten them.

Two counters will cater only for senior citizens and one counter will be reserved for the physically challenged people. Further, two counters of National Securities Depository Ltd (NSDL) have been set up.

The department has also set up counters to provide food to people at a reasonable cost.
Although all counters will accept forms manually, ‘tax volunteers’ will also help the assessees file e-returns.