File Your ITR Online in 5 Steps: No CA Needed
Filing your income tax return online is easier than you think. The Income Tax portal pre-fills most of your data. Salaried individuals with simple income can do it themselves in under an hour — no CA required.
A CA charges ₹1,500–₹10,000 to file a basic salaried ITR you can do in 30 minutes for free.
You could save this much by filing your ITR yourself instead of hiring a CA
Key Takeaways
Log in to incometax.gov.in using your PAN and Aadhaar-linked mobile OTP, then go to 'File Income Tax Return' and select AY 2026-27.
Download your Form 16 from your employer and cross-check it against the pre-filled AIS data on the portal before submitting — correct any mismatches immediately.
After submitting, e-verify your ITR within 30 days using Aadhaar OTP, net banking, or Demat account — an unverified return is treated as never filed.
Filing your income tax return online is easier than you think. The Income Tax portal pre-fills most of your data. Salaried individuals with simple income can do it themselves in under an hour — no CA required.
Here's what happened: The ITR filing window for FY 2025-26 (AY 2026-27) is open and the deadline for salaried individuals is July 31, 2026.. The income tax e-filing portal at incometax.gov.in pre-fills salary, TDS, and interest income data from your Form 26AS and AIS automatically.. Most salaried employees with one employer and no complex investments qualify for the simple ITR-1 (Sahaj) form, which takes under an hour to complete..
What you should do: Log in to incometax.gov.in using your PAN and Aadhaar-linked mobile OTP, then go to 'File Income Tax Return' and select AY 2026-27.. Download your Form 16 from your employer and cross-check it against the pre-filled AIS data on the portal before submitting — correct any mismatches immediately.. After submitting, e-verify your ITR within 30 days using Aadhaar OTP, net banking, or Demat account — an unverified return is treated as never filed..
If your pre-filled AIS shows interest income from savings accounts or FDs that your employer did not account for, declare it honestly — the tax department already knows and mismatches trigger notices.
For readers weighing their credit and loan options, our personal loan guide and CIBIL score resources put this update in context.
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- [1]“Income-tax returns: Here's how to file ITR online without a CA? A step-by-step guide for FY26” mint - money · 22 Jul 2026
This article is reported by GoCredit's Editorial Team based on the source above. GoCredit synthesises, contextualises, and adds India-borrower-relevant analysis. We are not the original publisher.