Income Tax

Legal Heir Registration process for ITR efiling on behalf of deceased person. How to Register?

Legal Heir Registration process for filing Income Tax Return. efiling process on behald of a deceased person

The registration of legal Heir (LH) is for the purpose of filing electronic income tax return on behalf of the deceased person. Legal Heir of the deceased person should register as a Legal Heir to e-File income tax return on behalf of the deceased.

PAN of both the deceased person and Legal Heir should be registered in the e-Filing portal. If Deceased person PAN is not registered in the portal then the Legal Heir can register on behalf of the deceased person (This feature is provided for Individual user only).

There are two type of Legal Heir (LH)

Temporary Legal Heir A person is treated as a Temporary Legal Heir when fails to submit any one of the five Legal Heir certificates as specified.

Permanent Legal Heir A person is treated as a Permanent Legal Heir when the person submits any one of the five Legal Heir certificates mentioned above.

Upon registration as LH, e-Filing Administrator may approve it as Temporary Legal Heir or Permanent Legal Heir, based on the documents uploaded. An e-mail is sent to the registered e-mail ID with the details of approval / rejection.

Legal Heir Registration process for filing Income Tax Return

Thus There can be two type of registration-

  • New Request for Legal Heir
  • Upgrade to Permanent Legal Heir

Steps involved in Legal Heir Registration – New Request

Step-1 – Login to e-Filing portal using Legal Heir Credentials, i.e. (Name, PAN, DOB etc. of LH)
Step-2 – My Account -> Authorise/Register as Representative

Step-3 -Select appropriate field

(i) Register Type- Select the Type of Request “New Request”

(ii) Authorise/Register as Representative – select “Register yourself on behalf of another person”

(iii) Category to register – Deceased (Legal Heir)

Click Proceed

Step 4 – Enter the details of Deceased/Legal Heir

  • PAN
  • Date of Birth
  • Surname
  • Middle Name
  • First Name
  • Details of bank account of the legal heir

Step-5 – Select the files to upload
Step 6 – Attach a Zip File with the below scanned documents

  • Copy of the Death Certificate
  • Copy of PAN card of the deceased
  • Copy of PAN card of Legal Heir
  • Legal Heir Certificate Or Affidavit in presence of a Notary Public

Note: Maximum size of Zipped files should not exceed 1 MB

Step-7 – Click Submit

Note: Following documents will be accepted as Legal Heir certificate.

  • The legal heir certificate issued by court of law
  • The legal heir certificate issued by the Local revenue authorities.
  • The certificate of surviving family members issued by the local revenue authorities
  • The registered will
  • The Family pension certificate issued by the State/Central government.

Approval Process

Step-1 – Legal Heir New request will be sent to the e-Filing Administrator.
Step-2 – The e-Filing Administrator will verify the request and approve / reject as applicable.

Note: e-Filing Administrator may approve as Temporary Legal Heir or Permanent Legal Heir, based on the documents uploaded. An e-mail is sent to the registered e-mail ID with the details of approval / rejection.

Steps involved in Legal Heir Registration – Upgrade to Permanent Legal Heir (LH)

Step-1 – Login to e-Filing portal using Legal Heir Credentials
Step-2 – My Account ->  Register as Legal Heir
Step-3 – Select the Type of Request – Upgrade to Permanent LH

Step-4 – Select the Legal Heir Certificate
Step-5 – Upload the Scan document of any one of the Legal Heir Certificate.
Step-6 – Click Submit

  • Upgrade to Permanent Legal Heir request will be sent to the e-Filing Administrator.
  • The e-Filing Administrator will verify the request and approve / reject as applicable.
  • To view the status of the request
    • Login using Legal Heir Credentials
    • My Request List -> Select Add Legal Heir Request.
  • The Legal Heir should add his/her PAN in the verification part of the ITR Form, validate and generate the xml of the return (if using offline forms) and upload the return of the deceased using the Legal Heir login.

Key Points to be noted:

  • Documents in regional language should be translated to Hindi or English. The translated document should be notarized (Both the original and translated document should be uploaded).
  • The uploaded documents should be scanned in PDF format with 300 dpi.
  • The zip file attachment should not exceed 1Mb.

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View Comments

  • Splendid! I could register myself as legal heir following your instructions. The instructions found on the official Income Tax site is misleading.

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