Costs Attached

This is the first year when e-filing has been made compulsory. However, if you find the whole process of e-filing complicated, you can opt for tax consultants who will file your return and charge you a nominal fee.

Being a working employee you are required to file a simple ITR-1 based on your Form 16 however you can take the help of TRPs or private websites as the cost involved is less. The TRPs charge as per the TRP notification subject to a maximum of 250 per return preparation.

"The department also pays incentive to the TRPs for preparing returns for taxpayers which is a percentage of the total tax paid as per the returns prepared by the TRP subject to a maximum limit of 1,000. Hence, the cost to the tax payer is only 250 or less," says Amrapal Chadha.

"The service providers will charge fees based on the complexity of the tax return. The cost could range from 250 per return to 2,000 or even higher," said Vineet Agarwal to ET.