Efiling of returns set to get simpler; all ITR forms to be made available online from this year
If all your documents are in place, you can now e-file your tax returns, as all the income-tax return (ITR) forms for assessment year (AY) 2017-18 are now available online at the income-tax department’s e-filing website www.incometaxefiling.gov.in. The I-T department has been uploading the various forms since April 1. forms. For the current assessment year, the number of forms have been reduced to seven from nine, because in place of three ITR forms— ITR-2, ITR-2A and ITR-3—a single ITR-2 has been notified.
Consequently, ITR-4 has been renumbered as ITR-3 and ITR-4S (Sugam) as ITR-4 (Sugam). Some more changes have been made in the design and format of the notified forms for the current assessment year.
According to the CBDT, “Various parts of ITR Form-1 (Sahaj) viz. parts relating to tax computation and deductions have been rationalized and simplified for easy compliance. This will reduce the compliance burden to a significant extent.
This initiative will benefit more than 2 crore taxpayers who will be eligible to file their return of income in this simplified form.” There are no changes in the e-filing process for the current year. There are two ways you can file the ITR. One is mostly online but partially offline, and the other is fully online.
In the partially offline process, you need to download the relevant ITR form. After you fill and save the form, you need to submit it by going online again.
If you don’t already have a user ID, you can generate it on the same website using your Permanent Account Number (PAN). After you login, select the relevant form from the left panel and click ‘Submit Return’. Browse to select the XML file that you had filled and saved on your computer, and ‘Upload’ it.
After you upload the file, acknowledgement details would be displayed on your screen.
In the fully online process, you don’t have to download any form. You fill it online, and submit it online, after you login to the e-filing website with your ID and password.
The due date for filing ITRs for AY2017-18 is July 31, 2017. However, in case you file it after July 1, you will have to quote your Aadhaar number or the enrolment ID of Aadhaar application form.