E-filing is a convenient way of submitting your income tax return (ITR), and e-verification is the process of verifying your ITR online through the e-filing portal of the income-tax (I-T) department. Until about a year ago, even if you e-filed, for it to become valid you had to either verify the same through a digitally signed certificate (DSC) or send the ITR verification (ITR-V) form to the Centralized Processing Centre in Bengaluru. In the last assessment year, e-filing was made completely paperless; you could e-verify if you had an Aadhaar number or Internet banking facility on your bank account. And last month, it was announced that you can now e-verify using your bank account or demat account details as well.
The process till now
For e-verification, you need to log on to https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/eFiling. Go through your e-filed returns and choose the one for which e-verification is pending. You can either choose to generate an Aadhaar-based one-time password (OTP) or an electronic verification code (EVC). EVC is a 10-digit alphanumeric series generated by the portal. You can choose to generate it through Net banking or have it sent to your registered mobile number and email. This EVC is valid for 72 hours. After you enter the OTP or EVC, your e-verification will be complete.
