Income tax return filing for FY 2018-19 begins; ITR-1, 4 forms available for download

You can now start filing your income tax returns (ITR) for the last financial year 2018-19 with the Income Tax department issuing ITR forms 1 and 4 from today.

"ITR 1 & 4 for AY 2019-20 is available for e-Filing. Other ITRs will be available shortly," the I-T department said on its website.

ITR-1 (Sahaj) and ITR-4 (Sugam) forms can be downloaded from the income tax e-filing website and also used for filing your tax returns online.

ITR-1 form is meant for resident and salaried individuals having total income of upto ₹50 lakh while ITR-4 form is for businessmen and individual professionals having total income of upto ₹50 lakh. HUFs and firms (other than LLP) having total income of upto ₹50 lakh can also use this form for ITR filing.

Both the ITR forms are however not meant for individuals who are either director in a company or has invested in unlisted equity shares. The I-T department has said that this has been done in a bid to clamp down on shell companies and check routing of black money.

Directors in both listed and unlisted companies will have to file their tax returns in ITR-2. It will also be mandatory for them to disclose details like Director Identification Number (DIN), Permanent Account Number (PAN), equity holding along with the names of the companies.

You also need to keep in mind that it is now compulsory for all those filing ITRs to mention Aadhaar number in the forms without which the tax returns will not be processed.

A PTI report had earlier said there has been no change in ITR-1 or Sahaj form but some sections in ITR 2, 3, 5, 6 and 7 have been rationalised.

The last date for filing ITR is July 31 for those who are not required to get their accounts audited.

It is advisable to start filing your tax returns as soon as possible to avoid any penalties for delay and also to get early tax refunds.

In 2017-18, the Income Tax department added 1.07 crore new taxpayers while the number of ‘dropped filers’ came down to 25.22 lakh. A total of 6.87 crore ITRs were filed during FY 2017-18 as compared to 5.48 crore ITRs filed during FY 2016-17, the department said.