To file your income tax return (ITR) you have to register yourself on the tax department's e-filing website. The process of registration is quite easy.

You must keep your PAN card handy to enter the details as required on the registration portal. Also, while registering yourself on the portal you will be required to provide your mobile number and email address.

Follow the steps below to register yourself:
a) Visit www.incometaxindia.gov.in. Click on 'Register Yourself'.

b) Select the user type: Individual from the list of options available. Click on 'Continue'. Apart from Individuals, only these users can register themselves on the e-filing website: i) Hindu Undivided Family (HUF), ii) Other than Individual/HUF, iii) External Agency, iv) Chartered Accountants, v) Tax Deductor and Collector and vi) Third Party Software Utility Developer.

c) Enter your required details with asterisk mark: PAN, Surname, Middle Name, First Name, date of birth (as mentioned on PAN), residential status. Click on 'Submit'. Here one must remember that fields marked with asterisk sign are mandatory to be filled.

d) Next, you will be required to fill in other details such as password, mobile number, landline number, email ID and address. Ensure that you have filled this information correctly. The income tax department will be using your contact details to send you sms/mails etc. Apart from this, you will be required to choose two secret questions which will be used in case you want to reset the password of your account. Keep these questions and the answers to them safe. Click on continue once all the required details are filled in the registration form.

e) You will be required to verify your registration to complete the process. A one-time password (OTP) will be sent to your mobile number and a verification link will be sent to your email address. Enter the OTP received and click on the link received to successfully register yourself on the e-filing website.

Once you have successfully registered yourself, you can now login to your account on the income tax website. Your PAN will be your user ID to login to your account. You will need to enter your password and captcha to log-in to your account.

Apart from the income tax department's website, you can also access your account on the e-filing website via Net-banking. You must be a registered Net-banking user. Currently, the Net banking facilities of 34 banks can be used to access the e-filing website.

The list of banks can be accessed here.

Here is how you can access State Bank of India's (SBI) Net banking facility through the income tax department's e-filing portal.

a) Visit website www.onlinesbi.com. Click on login to get logged in to your account by entering your user ID and password.

b) Once logged in, click on e-tax. A new screen will appear on the page.

c) On that page, select 'Login to e-filing/e-verify'. Select the bank account.

d) After selecting the bank account, an OTP will be sent to your account.

e) Enter the OTP and click on submit.

f) On the new screen, your PAN number will appear. The page will ask for your permission to be redirected to the income tax e-filing website. Click on submit to give permission.