IT department releases ITR 1 and ITR 4 offline forms ahead of time

• The Income Tax Department issues Income Tax Return (ITR) forms for filing of returns every fiscal year.
  
• The Income Tax Department has released the offline utility for the ITR Forms 1 and 4 on 25 April 2023.
  
• However, the online forms are still to be released by the IT department.
  

The IT department has made available the ITR-1 and ITR-4 forms in an offline format, which can be used for filing income tax returns (ITR) pertaining to the financial year (FY) 2022-23, also known as the assessment year (AY) 2023-24.

“The Income Tax Department Issues Income Tax Return (ITR) forms for filing of returns every fiscal year. This year too, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) vide Notification No. 04/2023, dated 10 February 2023, and Notification No. 05/2023, dated 14 February 2023, has notified the Forms for furnishing the income-tax returns for the Financial Year 2022-23, corresponding to the Assessment Year 2023-24,” says Sudhakar Sethuraman, Partner, Deloitte India.

In this regard, the Income Tax Department has released the offline utility for the ITR Forms 1 and 4 on 25 April 2023.

Who is ITR 1 and ITR 4 applicable to?

ITR-1 is applicable to

● Residents (other than not ordinarily residents) individual taxpayers

● having income from salaries or pension, one house property, income under the head other sources (excluding lotteries, betting, gambling but including income from retirement benefit accounts maintained outside India), and agricultural income up to ₹5,000 which in aggregate should not exceed ₹50,00,000.

ITR-4 is applicable to

● Wider category of Resident taxpayers i.e., individuals, HUFs, and Firms (other than LLP)

● Having income from presumptive business, profession or income from goods or carriage which is computed under sections 44AD, 44ADA or 44AE respectively besides category of income specified under ITR-1 which in aggregate should not exceed ₹50,00,000.

Source: Deloitte

It is possible to file IT returns now

“The Income Tax Department has released the excel utilities for ITR 1 and ITR 4 much in advance and way before last quarter's TDS payment deadline. The IT Department is yet to release Java utilities that can work in most computers but are expected to release soon,” says Suneel Dasari, CEO and Founder, EZTax.in.

A few changes have been made to the ITR-1 and 4 forms to switch between old vs new tax-regime, additional conditions for filing income tax returns such as turnover from business exceeding ₹60 lakh in the previous fiscal year, turnover from profession exceeding ₹10 lakh in the previous fiscal year, and the TDS deducted in the previous fiscal year, which are introduced in ITR 1 and ITR 4

“Overall, we predict that much of the tax base is expected to prepare and file taxes in the months of May and June compared to earlier years,” says Dasari.

How to file IT return?

To file an Income Tax Return (ITR), an individual must first download the utility from the official income tax e-filing portal at https://www.incometax.gov.in/iec/foportal. After filling in the necessary income and deduction-related information on the utility form, the form must then be uploaded to the income tax e-filing portal. This is possible right now.

If using the online e-filing mode, the individual must input the information directly into the online form available on the e-filing income tax portal. Once the ITR form has been submitted, whether through offline or online modes, the individual must verify it. Failure to verify the ITR form will result in the income tax department not processing the form.

However, salaried employees would find it easier to file their ITR after they have received the Form 16 from their employer.