These startups can make filing tax returns a non-taxing process

While most of us salaried lot have our taxes deducted at source, filing returns is a task for most of us, and a daunting one at that.

The Income Tax Department has issued seven types of Income Tax Return (ITR) forms, depending on the type of income and status of taxpayers, and understanding tax compliance and filing tax returns is necessary for every individual and organisation.

While the government has made filing tax returns easier using Saral/ Sahaj forms, the task remains a cumbersome process for most.

To help with this yearly challenge that most of us face, several startups are offering help with filing returns, planning investments and helping with deductions, both for individuals and organisations. Here are some of them to keep in mind when you need them in July.

ClearTax

Bengaluru-based ClearTax, founded by Archit Gupta in 2011, is one of the prominent players in the tax returns filing sector. ClearTax helps individuals and companies prepare and file their income tax returns with ease.

The company has around 250 chartered accountants to help users file tax returns through the platform.

As of 2016, ClearTax has raised close to $15.4 million from Sequoia Capital India and SAIF Partners, amongst others, and claimed to have around 2.5 million users and a revenue of $3.3 million.

Taxmantra

Kolkata-based Taxmantra was founded by Alok Patnia in August 2010. The platform helps individuals and businesses file their tax returns and the bootstrapped firm claims to have close to 150 experts on the platform, including CAs, lawyers and company secretaries.

Split between B2C and B2B, Taxmantra received 4,000-5,000 visitors on its platform daily (in 2016), of which 60-70 percent were inbound leads. Further, the platform also claimed to have over 540 B2B retainer clients in 2016.

For FY16, the company claimed to have posted a revenue of about Rs 3.25 crore.

Alok, along with Abhishek Rungta, the founder of enterprise mobility solutions firm Indus Net Technologies, launched Makeyourtax.com in 2015, which is a cloud-based online tax return preparation and filing software for businesses, individuals, chartered accountants and tax professionals.

Hello Tax

Himanshu Kumar founded ITechFlock Software in 2015, and the company’s Hello Tax app helps users to file their income tax returns easily.

Delhi-based Hello Tax has an intuitive user interface that guides users to navigate from one screen to the other, and with three-four clicks, they can file their income tax returns. Apart from ITR filing, the app also helps users store their tax-related documents in the Hello Tax drive.

Charging Rs 125 for a single return filing, the company raised an undisclosed amount from AnglePaisa in 2016.

TaxSpanner

Founded by Ankur Sharma, Sumit Grover, Sudhir Kaushik and Manoj Yadav, Delhi-based TaxSpanner offers online preparation and filing of individual Income Tax Returns.

Started in 2007, TaxSpanner tied up with more than 100 companies and has worked with clients like HCL Technologies, Accenture, Citibank and Punjab National Bank. The company got an undisclosed amount by IAN in 2010.

While TaxSpanner charges its retail customers between Rs 249 and Rs 749, while charges for corporate customers vary.

Tax2win

Jaipur-based Tax2win is an online tax returns filing service. Founded by Abhishek Soni and Vertika Kedia in 2015, the platform provides a CA Assistance feature for individuals unsure about filing their taxes.

In 2016, it claims to have had close to 30,000 users using its platform, of which 4,000–5,000 opted for the CA Assistance service.

The same year, Tax2win raised $1 million from undisclosed investors. It has also worked with clients including Indian Railways, Marriott Group of Hotels, Fortis Healthcare, Idea Cellular, and IndiGo, amongst others.

Tax2win charges Rs 499 for a basic standard income tax filing.

ChaiReturn

ChaiReturn was started with the intent to make filing returns on your income tax as easy as drinking chai. The online income tax return e-filing website was founded by Saran Kumar in 2011.

Self-funded ChaiReturn has a mix of young chartered accountants, experienced tax experts, and tech staff. It has both online and offline marketing channels, and charges a basic price of Rs 280 for a standard tax filing.