Filing an income tax return at the fag end of the year can be a task that is always ridden with tense moments. Not only might one be busy with the various issues that one might have to deal professionally and personally, the fact that at the year end, you are not the only person filing a tax return ensures that you need to stand in a long queues with others.

There is an easy method that could solve all your woes if you are a person who has many important things to attend to which might be as important as or more important than your tax return. The Government of India has come up with a procedure that will enable you to file your tax return online. Thus enabling you to skip many queues and save valuable time. The entire exercise is divided in simple steps to enable you to complete your tax return.

The various steps are present on the internet and if enters the Govt. of India’s Tax Department website by searching for it on Google, one can find the various steps to finish filing an income tax return. They include filling various forms and a nice little E-calculator that allows you to calculate the tax amount to be paid etc. One has to pay online via various banks, the list of all these banks are also available on the govt. website. There is also the concept of E-signature that one has to careful about and one can purchase such E-signatures from various sites. Details of these can be obtained by searching them on any search engine.

After searching the internet for services that can help me reduce the tension of filing tax return. I bumped into many websites that cater to helping one reduce the hassles that one would face while filling online. Some of them offered services such that filing a return can be broken down into three steps. I was impressed by these sites and a many sites also assured that they will provide services that will enable us to get the best refund possible. They do this by asking you to fill in your personal tax details and thus manage to calculate the biggest refund possible. One has to be a bit skeptical about sensitive tax related information being given to some random website so ensure that you choose a credible website by checking if many people have been provided with this service.

Thanks to the convenience of the web, more and more small business owners are finding it easy to work from home offices. As you may know, small business owners can take advantage of a set of tax deductions relating to business expenses. However, when it comes to making deductions for expenses relating to your home office, things can get tricky. The deductions are definitely available, but you may have to take certain steps to make sure that you can get them legally.

A space devoted to work
First of all, in order to be able to claim deductions for many aspects of your this type of office, you need to have a space that is devoted exclusively to your business. And when the tax code says exclusively, the IRS really means it. If your office at home doubles as a living room, dining room, or bedroom, or if it is used for sleeping, watching TV, or anything else, then it does not qualify for deductions.

Of course, getting over this hurdle is not difficult. Even if you place your office in a room that is devoted to other purposes, you can set aside a square of space that is exclusively for work. Once you do so, you’ll want to measure out the dimensions of your work area so that you can properly claim your deductions.

Your principle place of business
Second, it’s important that your office at home serve as your principle place of business. If you use your home office for a few occasional tasks to supplement your primary work, which is out of the home, then you don’t qualify for deductions. However, if your home office is the place from which all your business activities are based, then you do qualify. This is simple for a lot of people, but if you have an external office, things can get complicated.

Deductions
So, now that we’ve established which home offices are eligible for deductions, what can you deduct?

· All expenses relating directly to your home office: This includes expenses relating to painting, cleaning, remodeling, etc.

· Electric and phone bills for your home office: If you use your phone for non-business purposes, then it doesn’t qualify. With your electricity, calculate the percentage of your home’s square footage that your office takes up, calculate that percentage of your monthly bill, add it up for the year, and deduct that amount.

· Rent or house payments: As with the electric bill, you’ll need to know the percentage of your home’s space that your office takes up. Apply that ratio to your rent or house payments, and deduct that much for the year. If there are any rooms that are primarily used in relation to your home office (for example, an adjacent bathroom or a closet), don’t forget to enter these into the calculations.

· Fees relating to your business: Depending upon what type of business you’re involved in, you may have to pay fees to various entities. For example, if you’re a freelancer, you may have to pay fees to the service that connects you to clients. These can be deducted.