Using TaxSpanner |  Promotions |  Referral Program |  Saving Information |  Support |  Return Preparation |  Filing |  Security |  Capital Gains | 

• Using TaxSpanner
• Ques: How do I use TaxSpanner to prepare my return?
• Ans: Follow the process below to prepare your return:
  1. Select either TaxSpanner Quick or TaxSpanner Advanced.
  2. You can proceed even without registering.
  3. Enter your information based on easy, interview-style questions. If you don't have any information handy (example PAN number) skip it.
  4. Preview your income tax return (ITR1 or ITR2). TaxSpanner automatically selects the return form for you.
  5. TaxSpanner will perform a review and will remind of all the missing pieces of information. Enter them.
  6. Make payment.
  7. Review your draft ITR generated by TaxSpanner.
  8. Download your final ITR and submit it at the nearest income tax office. Or, download your e-return and e-file.
  
  
  
• Ques: What are the unique things about TaxSpanner?
• Ans:
  1. We do not ask you for payment until you are completely satisfied.
  2. We let you explore the complete portal without seeking personal details upfront.
  3. No pop-ups or advertisements or spam.
  4. No other site generates latest income tax return form instantly. Only we do.
  5. We use SSL encryption to keep your information highly secure.
  
  
• Ques: Why does TaxSpanner not provide the service of physical filing of return?
• Ans: We strive to provide flawless user experience at TaxSpanner. While we guarantee 100% accuracy and total satisfaction for TaxSpanner.com service, we have not found logistics of handling physical returns which can guarantee as flawless an experience as the TaxSpanner website. Therefore, we do not provide physical filing service.
  
  
• Ques: When will I be able to efile my return?
• Ans: E-filing is essentially another mode of filing your income tax return, in addition to the popular mode of printing and submitting your return at the income tax counters. TaxSpanner will start generating e-returns from April 10, 2008.
  
  

• Promotions
• Ques: Will TaxSpanner introduce the File Fast promotion again?
• Ans: Traditionally, users prepare their returns in the last few days of the due date. We also tend to do that :-). To encourage early filing of returns, TaxSpanner ran a special File Fast promotion last year. We may run this promotion this year.
  
  
• Ques: When does TaxSpanner come up with promotions?
• Ans: Pricing is an integral and confidential part of TaxSpanner business strategy. We do not disclose our price moves in advance.
  
  

• Referral Program
• Ques: How does TaxSpanner Referral Program work?
• Ans: TaxSpanner pays a referral fee of Rs. 50 if you refer TaxSpanner service to your friend or colleague. You must be a registered user (i.e., with a valid login/email id) at www.taxspanner.com in order to be eligible for this program. Whenever an individual mentions your TaxSpanner login id while paying for TaxSpanner service, you become eligible to receive the referral fee if that individual's payment is successful. The complete details of the referral program are available in the License Agreement.
  
  
• Ques: How many referrals can I give?
• Ans: There is no limit on the number of referrals that you can give.
  
  
• Ques: How and when does TaxSpanner pay the referral fee?
• Ans: TaxSpanner will send an email to you asking for your details, such as name, and address. After receiving the valid information, TaxSpanner will issue an account payee cheque for the amount payable. Referral fee will be paid within ninety days of an eligible referral.
  
  
• Ques: Is it possible that I do not receive the referral amount?
• Ans: There are some basic conditions that should be fulfilled before we make the payment.
  1. You must be above 18 years of age.
  2. The person who has provided your email id must not have asked for a refund.
  
  
• Ques: When does the referral program end?
• Ans: The referral program was till July 31st, 2007. Any referrals after this date will not be eligible. We have not yet launched the referral program for 2008.
  
  
• Saving Information
• Ques: Why does TaxSpanner allow users to browse without registering?
• Ans: If you can visit a shop and inspect its wares without any compulsion to buy, why not do the same on a website? TaxSpanner strives to provide a similar experience to the ones in real life. Hence, there is no compulsion to pay or to share your private data unless you are completely satisfied of the TaxSpanner service.
  
  
• Ques:Why does TaxSpanner not flag an error for incomplete information?
• Ans: One of the key features of TaxSpanner is that we do not stop you at every step asking for missing information. We understand that not all information is handy at times, plus if you are exploring the website you might not want to all information. We too find it a nuisance.
  We will remind you of the missing information during the Return Review process. Note, you can revisit any page any number of times and fill or modify your information rather than wait for the review.
  
  
• Ques: Does TaxSpanner save all my information?
• Ans: TaxSpanner saves all your information at every click. If you have created a login id you can logon at any time and access all your data.
  If you are using TaxSpanner as a guest user (i.e., without creating a login), then your data is saved as long as your session is alive. A session expires when you close the browser, or if your session is inactive for 20 minutes. To save all your data from a guest session, click 'Register Me' link at the top right hand corner to create your login.
  
  
• Support
• Ques: What can I contact TaxSpanner support for?
• Ans: You should contact TaxSpanner support for:
  • Questions regarding tax computation
  • TaxSpanner features
  • Payment related issues
  • Any other feedback regarding TaxSpanner
  
  
• Ques: How soon can I expect a reply from TaxSpanner Support?
• Ans: We provide a 24 hour response time for all queries.
  
  
• Return Preparation
• Ques: I am an NRI. Can I use TaxSpanner?
• Ans: If your income is only from salary and/or interest, then you can use TaxSpanner Quick to prepare and file your return as an NRI. Note, TaxSpanner Advanced is currently not available for NRIs.
  
  
• Ques: Which income tax return forms does TaxSpanner support?
• Ans: TaxSpanner supports the new income tax return forms ITR1 and ITR2. Saral 2D, and Form 2F are not applicable for filing returns for Financial Year 2007-2008.
  
  
• Ques: What features are not supported by TaxSpanner?
• Ans: Please visit the page What is not included in TaxSpanner? for a list of features that are currently not supported by TaxSpanner.
  
  
• Return Filing
• Ques: How can I file my paper return?
• Ans: TaxSpanner will provide your completed income tax return as a PDF file. You have to print your income tax return, sign it, and submit it at the nearest income tax office.
  
  
• Ques: Does TaxSpanner support E-filing?
• Ans: Yes.
  
  
• Ques: I don't have time to file a paper return. How can I Efile?
• Ans: Download the XML e-return generated by TaxSpanner. Now login to Income Tax Efiling portal (Register and create a user id/password if you don't have one.) Upload your XML return using the "Submit return" link on the left had side of this web page.
  If your return has been uploaded successfully, you will receive an ITR-V on next page. This ITR-V is a one page form . You need to take a printout of this form and deposit it to the income tax office within 15 days. This step is needed if you have not attached your digital signatures while uploading the XML e-return.
  
  
  
• Security
• Ques: How does TaxSpanner protect your online security?
• Ans: Keeping financial and personal information about you secure and confidential is one of our most important responsibilities. We take the following steps to protect our systems and their interaction with you:
  1. All your data is located in secure servers, which can only be accessed by TaxSpanner staff.
  2. Encrypting the transmission of data makes it difficult to intercept sensitive information as it travels between two parties. We encrypt the dedicated lines that connect our systems, and we use Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology to encrypt the connection that we make with you over the Internet.
  3. Time-out Feature. As an added precaution, sessions will timeout if they are inactive for 20 minutes or more.
  Note : Please note that e-mail sent over the Internet may not be secure. When sending e-mail, do not include sensitive information such as your password.
  
  
  
• Ques: What can I do to protect my online security?
• Ans: While TaxSpanner seeks to protect your information on our systems, it is very important that you take precautions to protect yourself and the information you share over the Internet. Below are some recommendations that you can use to protect yourself online.
  
  Your password:
  1. Memorize your password and do not write it down in un-secure place.
  2. Regularly change your password. This is the most effective way to increase your security.
  3. Do not share or reveal your password to anyone. [Note: TaxSpanner will never ask you for your password.].
  4. Select a password that cannot be easily guessed by someone else.
  5. Do not associate your password with anything personal such as names, birth dates, phone numbers, or other familiar words.
  6. You may set your password at least 6 characters in length (any characters). For security purposes, a password length of 6 or more characters is strongly recommended.
  
  Other ways:
  1. Remember to sign off of TaxSpanner once you have completed your session. TaxSpanner provides a Logout link in the upper right hand corner of your screen.
  2. Only provide your login id and password when your browser indicates an encrypted connection. An encrypted connection is normally indicated by an "https://" in your browsers address bar in front of the address of the page you are visiting.
  
  
• Capital Gains
• Ques: My stock transactions are stored in a spreadsheet? How can I add them into TaxSpanner?
• Ans: TaxSpanner does not support uploading of data from spreadsheets at the moment. However, you can enter as many transactions in the Capital Gains section.