ITR filing: These new changes in ITR1 form will make tax filing easier for you

In order to make the tax filing process less cumbersome, the Income Tax Department will now provide pre-filled ITR-1 forms. These forms will have your salary, FD interest income and TDS details. So far, these details had to be manually filled by the taxpayer. However, one must keep in mind that this facility for ITR filing is available for the ITR-1 form filed online. The software will use the taxpayer's PAN details from Form 26AS, the TDS return filed by the employer and the previous year's ITR.

Deductions claimed by the taxpayer under sections 80C to 80U will also be pre-filled in the ITR-1. If you have forgotten to claim the deduction, then you will have to manually enter the details for the pre-filled ITR filing. The form will also have details of the type of your house property. In case of inconsistencies, the taxpayer can opt to edit the fields as well.

Another thing to be kept in mind is that this facility can only be availed by taxpayers who are eligible to file ITR-1. They must also file it on the e-filing website incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in. In case the taxpayer decides to file the ITR-1 using Excel or Java, then they will have to manually fill those details.

While filing the pre-filled form, one must carefully scrutinise the pre-filled details. In case of incorrect details, one could face an income tax notice in the future. Additionally, the format of Form 16 and Form 25Q (TDS return by employer) have also been revised. The format in which salary details need to be filled is same as in Form 16. Moreover, employers are now required to issue the Part B of Form 16 by downloading it from the TRACES website. Earlier, only Part A of Form 16 was to be downloaded from the TRACES website and Part B was issued by the employer from a third-party software.

(Edited by Anwesha Madhukalya)

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