Government extends the facility of pre-filling to 2 more ITR forms

The government will extend the facility of pre-filling ITR to two more forms from the next fiscal year. The facility of pre-filling will be available for ITR-2 and ITR-3 from the next fiscal year for AY 2020-21. 

There are seven ITR forms provided for income tax filing. The forms are ITR-1, ITR-2, ITR-3, and so on till ITR-7. ITR-1 is for salaried individuals, owning one house property, income from other sources (interest), for a total income up to Rs 50 lakh.

ITR-2 is for individuals and Hindu Undivided Family (HUF) that do not carry on business or profession. ITR-3 is for individuals and HUFs carrying on a business or profession. The forms ITR-4 to ITR-7 are for the presumptive scheme of business, corporates and other taxpayers.

Out of these forms, the facility of pre-filling is allowed for ITR-1 for AY 2019-20. The facility of pre-filling is part of the scheme for assisting taxpayers. Taxpayers can download pre-filled ITR for ITR-1. The details of income from salary, interest earned on bank fixed deposits, and income tax deductions are available in pre-filled ITR. 

However, the details of capital gains from the sale of shares and mutual funds, and details about the sale of immovable property are not yet pre-filled. These are reportable in ITR-2 or ITR-3.

The government proposes to make them available from the next fiscal year. The government is in discussion with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and registrars attached to State governments for facilitating pre-filling of capital gains and immovable property transactions.

Taxpayers have to verify the data pre-filled in the ITR. Also, taxpayers are required to enter the data on income or loss from house property, gains or losses from capital market transactions and any other income or loss.

Also Read: ITR filing to get easier with pre-filled investment and interest income data

For the earlier AY 2018-19, more than 6.68 crore returns were filed electronically, 3.17 crore were ITR-1, 45.27 lakh were ITR-2, and 1.25 crore were ITR-3. The due date to file ITR for AY 2019-20 for non-audit cases is 31 August 2019.

Most of the filings in ITR-1 and ITR-2 would be completed by 31 August 2019. Taxpayers filing after the due date are liable for a mandatory late filing fee. The due date for filings in audit cases is 30 September 2019.

The government has also announced several other measures to improve tax administration. The government proposes to introduce faceless scrutiny through a centralised cell.

The cases selected for scrutiny will be randomly allocated to assessment units. Income tax notices will be issued electronically by a central cell, without disclosing the name, designation or location of the assessing officer. 

The government has also announced that from 1 October 2019, all notices, summons, orders will be issued through a centralised computer system. All documents issued by the income tax department will bear a unique computer-generated Document Identification Number (DIN).

This measure is introduced to address complaints of harassment on account of the issue of notices, summons, and orders by certain Income-tax authorities. Any communication made without a DIN will not be legally valid.