No changes made in ITR forms, only utility software updated, clarifies CBDT

New Delhi: The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) on Tuesday said that no changes have been made in any of the Income Tax Return (ITR) forms.

"No changes have been made in any of the ITR forms including ITR-2 and ITR-3 since the notification made on April 1, 2019, i.e., on the first day of the assessment year 2019-20," read a CBDT press note.

"There were reports in certain social media that the taxpayers are facing difficulties in filing return of income in ITR 2 and ITR 3 due to large scale changes in the ITR form on July 11," it said.

The CBDT said that the software utility for e-filing of all the ITR forms has been released long back.

"The utility for e-filing ITR-2 and ITR-3 were released on May 2 and May 10, 2019 respectively. However, the software utility update is a dynamic process and is continuously taken up as per the feedback received from the users/filers to ease their experience in electronic filing of the return," it said.

It clarified that the updating of utility does not hamper filing of return as the taxpayers are allowed to file using the utility, which is available at that point of time

The CBDT explained that the updation in the utility of ITR forms is based on feedback and mainly aimed at easing the compliance burden of the taxpayers by facilitating easier e-filing.

It reiterated that there are no changes in the notified ITR forms, but the utility has been updated to facilitate the taxpayers and the assertion that numerous changes have been made in ITR-2 and ITR-3 on 11 July is not giving a correct picture.