How to e-Verify Your Income Tax Return

By the MyTaxLocker Team · Updated 19 June 2026

Filing your ITR isn't finished when you hit submit. You then have to verify it — and if you don't verify within 30 days, the Income Tax Department treats the return as never filed. The fastest way is to e-verify, which is instant and entirely online. Here are the six ways to do it, plus the offline fallback.

Why verification matters

An unverified return is invalid. Your refund won't be processed, and if the 30-day window lapses, your filing effectively doesn't exist — you'd have to file again, possibly as a belated return with a late fee. e-Verification is instant; the physical route takes days.

The 30-day rule

You must verify within 30 days of filing. If you verify after that, the date of verification becomes your date of filing — which can turn an on-time return into a belated one, with the penalties that come with it. So, verify the same day you file if you can.

Six ways to e-verify

1. Aadhaar OTP — if your Aadhaar is linked to your mobile number, request a one-time password and enter it — the quickest method for most people.
2. Net banking — log in to your bank's net banking, find the income-tax / e-Filing link, and you're taken to the portal already authenticated.
3. Bank account EVC — generate an Electronic Verification Code through a pre-validated, EVC-enabled bank account.
4. Demat account EVC — the same idea, through a pre-validated demat account.
5. Bank ATM — a few banks let you generate an EVC at the ATM, which you then use on the portal.
6. Digital Signature Certificate (DSC) — required in some cases (for example, accounts that need a tax audit); optional for most individuals.

An EVC is a 10-digit code that's valid for 72 hours once generated.

The offline fallback — ITR-V by post

If you can't e-verify, you can print the ITR-V (the acknowledgement), sign it in blue ink, and post it to the Centralised Processing Centre, Income Tax Department, Bengaluru 560500 — within the same 30 days. It's slower, and you don't get instant confirmation, so e-verification is almost always the better choice.

After you verify

You'll get an immediate confirmation, and only then does processing — and any refund — begin. You can follow it from the portal; see our guide on checking your refund status.