New Delhi, June 21 -- For most salaried taxpayers, income tax return filing has become largely a digital exercise. Salary details are available in Form 16, tax credits can be checked through Form 26AS, and much of the return is now pre-filled using data reported by employers, banks, mutual funds and stockbrokers.

Yet every filing season, taxpayers end up facing lower refunds, additional tax demands, defective return notices or interest liabilities because of avoidable errors. The Income Tax Department's reporting framework has become far more comprehensive in recent years, making it easier to detect inconsistencies between the income reported in a return and the information available through official records. As a result, even small omis...