OLTAS stands for On-Line Tax Accounting System which is an online system operated by the Income Tax Department of India. This system aims at the collection, accounting and reporting of direct taxes from individuals as well as companies.
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What is On-Line Tax Accounting System (OLTAS)
The Income Tax Department developed a strategic method for gathering essential information and maintaining records of taxes paid by banks by uploading challan details online. Launched in June 2004, this user-friendly system generates single copy challan-cum-acknowledgement instead of a four copy challan. Every OLTAS challan has a unique identification number popularly known as challan identification number (CIN). It further has 3 components:
- BSR Code: Branch code of your bank
- Challan tender date: Cash or cheque deposit date
- Challan series number
CIN helps in identifying every payment uniquely which enables the transfer of details of tax payment by banks to the Income Tax Department.
You can also check your OLTAS challan status by clicking on https://www.protean-tinpan.com/, Click on ‘service’ and choose ‘Challan Status Inquiry’ from the drop-down menu.
This website is Tax Information Network (TIN), launched by National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL) which is responsible for helping the taxpayers with OLTAS challan status enquiry.
Advantages of OLTAS
- Real-time updates: OLTAS login and registration helps the taxpayers with real time updates on inquiries like tax payments, transactions, OLTAS challan status inquiry and many more.
- Convenience: OLTAS website has made the process of tax paying and status checking easier for the user
- High-end security: To protect the confidential data of the taxpayers, OLTAS uses powerful authentication and encryption methods.
- Efficiency: The taxpayers can pay their tax through OLTAS login which ensures efficient payment of tax collection on time.
OLTAS Tax Refund
The income tax department returns you the excess amount, if your income tax paid is more than the income tax liability for one year. This refund amount is known as ‘Income Tax Refund’ which can be processed by the TIN portal.
- Login to the TIN website by clicking on https://www.protean-tinpan.com/
- Select the ‘service’ option and then click on ‘Status of Tax Funds’ under the drop down menu.
- Click on the ‘Refund Tracking’ option displayed on the left side of the page.
- Choose the ‘Taxpayer Refund (PAN)’ option by clicking on proceed. Enter the login credentials of your account and click on ‘submit’
- Your tax refund status will be displayed.
Challan Enquiry Through OLTAS
For any OLTAS challan status enquiry, follow the below mentioned steps:
- Visit the TIN website and choose the ‘Challan Status Enquiry’ under ‘Service’ section.
- Choose the valid option from ‘CIN based view’ or ‘TAN based view’. Refer to the details mentioned on the website below if you face any difficulty in this step.
- For ‘CIN based view’ fill in information like BSR code, Challan Tender date, Challan serial number and amount. You can find all the details stamped on the acknowledgement for challan given by the bank.
- For ‘TAN based view’ fill in information like TAN number and challan tender date.
- A message will be displayed on your screen confirming if the challan has been received by the TIN or not.
- You can verify all the details regarding your challan now.