The Income Tax Department has released the offline forms (ITR 1 and ITR-4) for filing income tax returns (ITR) for FY 2022-23 (AY 2023-24). Individual taxpayers can now file tax information pertaining to their income made from April 1, 2022, to March 31, 2023.
The income tax return (ITR) form is used to submit a person’s income and the taxes to be paid to the I-T department during a financial year. ITRs should be filed by anyone earning more than Rs. 2.5 lakh. If an individual opts for the new tax regime, the basic exemption limit will be Rs 2.5 lakh, irrespective of the individual taxpayer’s age. Amongst many other reasons, you must file an ITR to seek a refund from the income tax department.
There are seven types of forms, and the nature of the income determines their applicability, amount, and type of taxpayer. I-T Department has only released the excel utility for ITR 1 and ITR-4. It is yet to enable the online ITR forms.
ITR-1 & ITR-4
ITR-1 is to be filed by resident individuals having total income from salary or one property up to Rs. 50 lakh. A person with other income sources, excluding lotteries and horse bets, can file ITR-1. An individual with an agricultural income of up to Rs. 5,000 must opt for ITR-1.
If one has taxable capital gains, both short-term and long-term, or is a director of a company, such an individual cannot file ITR-1. There are many other conditions also for non-eligibility.
ITR-4 must be filed by resident individuals, Hindu undivided families (HUFs), and firms (other than Limited Liability Partnerships) with a total income of up to Rs. 50 lakh and income from business or profession computed under section 44AD, 44ADA, or 44AE.
The forms were released after the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) notified the same in February this year, rather than the usual notification in April.
“Excel utilities of ITR 1 and ITR 4 for AY 2023-24 are available for filing,” said the e-filing income tax portal. This means that if a person wishes to file an ITR right now, they must first download the utility from the income tax e-filing portal. Once the income and deduction-related information in the utility form has been filed, it must be uploaded to the income tax e-filing portal.
The I-T Department has yet to release the JSON utility for ITR-1 and ITR-4 forms and forms for additional types of ITRs. For the online form, one is directly required to enter the information on the online form available on the e-filing income tax portal. One should remember that once the
ITR form is submitted (either offline or online), the taxpayer should verify it. Otherwise, ITR will not be taken up for processing by the income tax department unless the taxpayer confirms. The stipulated time limit is 30 days from submission. Therefore, e-Verification is the most convenient and instant way to verify one’s ITR.
Though the offline ITR forms have been released, many salaried individuals need Form 16 from their employers to file ITR easily. Form 16/ 16A is the certificate of tax deduction at source and issued on tax deduction by the employer on behalf of the employees. Employers should give Form 16 to employees by June 15, and taxpayers (whose accounts are not required to be audited) should file ITR before July 31, 2023.
Apart from asking taxpayers to furnish details related to crypto and virtual digital assets transactions, there is no major change in the income tax return form this year. The new schedule for virtual digital assets in the ITR forms requires details such as date of acquisition, income from transfer of virtual digital assets etc. In addition, in Union Budget 2022, the Centre has stated that any income from any virtual digital asset transfer shall be taxed at 30 per cent.
