As per the Income Tax Act, upon the death of a person, his legal heir shall be liable to pay any dues of the deceased, in the similar manner and to the same extent as the deceased would have been liable to pay if he had not expired, under “estate of the deceased”. Any non – compliance with this provision would attract penal provisions and the heir will be liable to pay the penalty. Hence the legal heir will be responsible to file the Income Tax Return for the income on which the deceased would have been assessed upon his survival. The process of filing e-Return by Legal Heir has been revised by the Income Tax Department to reduce their harassment and to make it more convenient to file the returns. Legal Heir can use his Digital Signature Certificate (DSC) to file the return. The entire process has been explained below:

1. The Legal Heir (LH) must obtain a Digital Signature Certificate in his own name.
2. Legal Heir is required to make a request by sending a mail to efiling.administrator@incometaxindia.gov.in or efiling@incometaxindia.gov.in, wherein he should mention

• the name
• PAN
• Date-of-Birth of deceased as well as that of the LH
• Scanned attachment of the death certificate of the deceased.

On receipt of above, Legal Heir would be enabled to file the return of deceased using “LH’s DSC”. Taxmantra.com assists in getting your Digital Signature Certificate and file return in the most hassle free manner. We provide comprehensive taxation solutions to individuals in India and abroad.