The landscape of Income Tax returns filing has been witnessing a slow and steady change with e-filing of returns picking up momentum, especially among the youth, owing to factors like familiarty, ease-of-use, security and speed.

The number of those opting for e-filing has grown from 2.5 million some years ago to 4.5 million in 2008-09 and it is expected to touch the 10 million mark in three years.

The growth has been propelled by young individuals tax payers, many of them first-timers who are not familiar with the tax process, according to Ravi Jagannathan, MD and CEO of 3i Infotech Consumer Service which runs Taxsmile.com, an online tax management portal that helps in planning and filing of returns by providing easy-to-use step-by step method.

"This segment is tech-savvy and uses the internet for everything right from booking to shopping to banking and find e-filing an easier option", he said.

E-filing has been popular in cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkatta, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune and Ahmedabad.

"Now we are also seeing growth in cities like Kochi, Mysore, Coimbatore, Bhopal and Nagpur", Ravi said. There has been growth in tier two and three cities too.

Though a chunk of the older segment (35-45 age group) is yet to embrace the e-filing option, thanks to the "I-have-always been-filing my tax-this way" syndrome, and opts for the physical submission option, there are several others who have upgraded to e-filing option.

The demographics of online tax payers was on the increase owing to government-run mass awareness campaigns, spotlight on the process by the media and corporates encouraging employees to opt for it. The no-time-wasting factor has also provided an impetus, Ravi said.

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