It's that time of the year again when you need to file your end of year income tax return, but is the plethora of paperwork bogging you down? The Indian government has just made things easier by launching the facility of filing your income tax returns online.

The advantages of filing your income tax returns online are plentiful. For instance, you can file your returns anytime, anywhere, away from the prying eyes of others and within the confines of your own home.

However, you do need to ensure you protect your personal information online. It is no coincidence that identity theft rate related to tax return filing rises in keeping with the increasing popularity of online tax filing.

With thousands of Indian taxpayers heading online to file their returns in time for the Tax Day deadline, VeriSign, Inc., the trusted provider of Internet infrastructure services for the networked world, is offering five easy-to-follow tips for Indian tax payers to protect themselves.

1. Be skeptical of emails that feature Web links. Those links can be part of a phishing scam that takes you to look-alike Web pages designed to steal your sensitive personal information, from PAN numbers to credit card account information. If you need to log in, do so independently and through the log-in Web page not by clicking on a link.

2. When you go to file your taxes, make sure youve reached the correct site. One easy way is to look for a green address bar that indicates that the Web site is authentic.

3. Make sure youre entering your personal information in a secured session by looking for https:// A Web address beginning with https means that that there is an encrypted connection between your browser and the Web sites server, indicating that your communications are secure and cannot be intercepted.

4. When you finish your taxes, be sure youve logged out of your session. If you dont log out, fraudsters can potentially log in to your session after you leave the site.

5. Do not respond to any tax issues or requests using fax. You might receive a email scam requesting for a fax with personal information to be sent back to The Income Tax Department. The Income Tax Department will never request personal information via fax.

With these simple precautions, you can file your taxes online with confidence.