File your income tax returns online in 10 simple steps

It's that time of the year again....all are rushing to file their tax returns. All are trying to find an agent to help them file their taxes, this is because they are dreaded on long queues in front of income tax office. A simple fact we forget here is that you can do it yourself now, that too online, in the comfort of your home/office and is also hazel free. 

Following are the ten steps to file an income tax return on your own.

1. Go to incometaxindia website and register as a new user.
2. The site will ask for your PAN number for registration, please use it while registration
3. Once you click on the 'Register' button you will be taken to a form that will automatically have your address and other details (as submitted by you for getting a PAN). You will just have to put your own password, telephone number, e-mail and click on the 'Submit' button
4. You will reach a  page that has links for e-filing your tax returns for the assessment year 2010-11
5. Once you choose the year, you will be taken to a page from where you can download an excel utility that helps you file online income tax returns.
6. Select which category you belong to (salaried employees with only salary income will have to download ITR-1).
7. Fill in the required data asked for in the excel sheet.
8. Save the excel file on your local machine.
9. Click on 'Submit return' link in the middle on the left-hand side to upload the saved excel file to the income tax of India's server
10. After uploading excel file successfully a form will pop up in your computer's window. This is an acknowledgment that you have filed your returns online successfully. Take a print out of this form and fill in the verification part which duly needs to be posted to your nearest local income tax office.   

Today I filed my IT returns using the above method.
If you have any questions feel free to post it on the below comments section.

Revolution Now - Social Media

It gives me goosebumps when I think about what is happening right now as I write this blog or you reading it. We are going through a period in the history of humankind that is revolutionizing the way we relate, engage and communicate with people across the globe and in space. The barriers of color, cast, culture, and creed fade away in the social web and we all can relate to one another as fellow human beings.

Some of the things that stuck as I watched the video are

• Social media is about people
• It is the number one activity online, an astounding feat when you consider who comes second
• It has an impact on offline behavior
• Transactions for virtual  goods will surpass those for real goods in near feature
• Peer recommendations are the way to go
• Compared to conventional advertising, social media marketing has a very long half-life.
• Facebook is Huge.
• Business will have to adapt to survive.

In order for business to adapt and survive, they would need new tools, new outlook, new planning new methods... Just as Erik Qualman had said, "We don't have a choice on whether we do social media, the question is how well we do it."

That is where finahub.com and other social media integrated applications come in to help you in doing social media well. 

Finahub gets an overhaul

We are excited to let you know about the release of the new and improved version of finahub.com. The changes are part of our ongoing effort to improve the user experience and the value you get out of the site.
As part of the release the finahub.com gets a new look and feel, that has more white space and more efficient use of the screen. Apart from the look and feel we have also introduced some cool new features such as:

Real time Street Talk
Real time street talk helps you keep updated with all things happening in the Indian stock market world in real time. Stock market news from the website across the internet and social networks such as facebook and twitter updates related to stocks and investment are streamed to the security research page in real time.

On individual stock detail page, the real time street talk will have the behave in a more focused manner. It will only show the real time updates related to the stock being displayed on the page.

Improved search interface that shows real time results
A search on finahub will take you to a result page that has an overview of results from four different categories, namely, Market updates, Real time web, Securities, and User are displayed.
Users can use the search filter on the right-hand side of the page to select the category of their choice and see the complete search results for that category.

Market Buzz
Market Buzz shows the latest market updates from all the finahub.com users.

Security Research Page
Security research page gives you on overview of the Indian security market. In incorporates the above mentioned new features and acts as the default landing page. You can access the page with out logging in to the site.


250 Character Market Comments
You don't have to limit your comments on the market to 140 characters now, we have increased the limit to 250 characters. This does not mean that you cannot share your market comments on tweeter. A market comment having more than 140 chars will be posted to the tweeter with the first 130 characters followed by a link to the market update page that has the full content.

Please check out the site and let us know what you feel about the changes.