#itreturn

Income Tax Return Filing for Last 3 Year

Know well about ITR forms

Who can file Income Tax Returns?

Individuals, HUFs, AOPs, BOIs, firms and companies are mandated to file the income tax return (ITR) if the income earned is taxable. Each of these taxpayers is taxed differently under the Income Tax laws of India wherein the domestic companies and firm have fixed a 22 per cent tax rate but the individuals are taxed as per the tax slabs.

Advantages of filing income tax returns (ITRS)

It has often seen that many individuals believe that if their salaries fall below the taxable bracket then they don’t need to file an income tax return (ITR). However, that is not true! Even if your earned income is not taxable, you should file ITR as it will benefit you in different ways. Listed out the following advantages of filing income tax returns:

Avoid Penalties:

Easy Loan Approval:

Address Proof:

Compensate for Losses in the next Financial Year:

Hassle-free Visa Processing:

Filing ITR timely can help you avoid penalties imposed by the Income Tax Department for belated return that could cost you extra interest.

In India, ITR is one of the important documents asked by banks in sanctioning a loan to an individual. Many banks and NBFCs ask for ITR receipts of the latest 3 years when applying for the loan such as home loan, car loan etc. Such lenders consider ITR as the most authentic document of verifying an individual’s income. Hence, an individual who is filing ITR on time can benefit from hassle-free loan approval.

Income Tax Return (ITR) receipts can serve as a residential proof as it is sent directly to your registered address.

If you are eligible to file ITR but didn’t then you would not be able to carry forward the losses of the current financial year to the next financial year. Hence, it is vital to file the ITR to claim the losses in the future years.

At the time of applying for Visa, the embassies generally ask for past ITR receipts to process the Visa application of an individual. So, filing ITR before the due date can help you in quick Visa processing at the time of Visa application.

Things to remember before filing an Income Tax Return

Income tax return filing is very important and if you have not filed your return yet, it’s a good idea to get going and try to do it as early as possible. Tax filing involves a lot of paperwork, confusion and queries. To ensure a seamless process, give yourself enough lead-time for a smooth and timely return filing. Unfortunately, there are penalties to be paid, if the deadlines are missed. These fines range between Rs. 5,000 to 10,000, depending on the delay.

You can get help from professionals to file your tax return who can advise you on how to save tax, the available deductions and exemptions under 80C and assist you with investment planning. But, if you are planning to file returns yourself, here are a few important things you could keep in mind.

First of all, make sure to collect all the required documents that you will need to file your ITR Form such as Form 16, Form 26AS, investment documents, premium payments, loan statements, salary slips, bank statements, and proof of capital gains (if any) that will help you in providing the details of tax deducted at source (TDS) and to compute the gross taxable income of yours in that financial year.

Similar to this, if you have redeemed mutual fund units within that year, you can reach out to your mutual fund house to provide you with the transaction statements and capital gain statements. Remember, if the gains exceed Rs. 1 lakh, you will be required to pay tax on LTCG. Once you finished computing your total income, the next thing is to calculate your tax liability by applying the tax rates as per your income slab.

Important Things To Remember While Filing Income Tax Returns

Know Your ITR Forms Well

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has made few amendments in the ITR forms to ease the process of filing Income Tax returns. The number of forms to be used by taxpayers has been reduced from 9 to 7. For individuals with annual taxable income (from salary, interest, one house property) of up to Rs. 50 lakh, ITR 1 is required to be filed. Whereas, for individuals with annual taxable income of more than Rs. 50 lakh, ITR 2 is required to be filed.

Mandatory Disclosure

Following up on the Central Government's efforts on demonetisation, the Income Tax department has made it mandatory to disclose cash deposits of Rs. 2 lakh and more in bank accounts. This was first initiated during the demonetisation period and continues to this day. The Income Tax department requires a declaration in a separate column giving details of money deposited along with bank details in the income tax returns. To prevent being taxed at 60% plus surcharge and cess, tax payers need to explain all sources or forms of income or investment.

Carefully Select the Assessment Year and Financial Year

Assessment Year and Financial Year are not the same and you need to be familiar with them in order to correctly file your taxes. Financial Year is the period or year within which you earn the income, whereas Assessment Year is the period or year that follows Financial Year and it is in this year that you file your tax return. Every Financial Year and Assessment Year begins on the 1st of April and ends on 31st of March. Assessment Year always comes after Financial Year.

Since your income is taxed in the Assessment Year, you have to select Assessment Year while filing your income tax return.

Check For Deductions Under 80C

Section 80C entitles you to certain deductions from the gross total income, up to a maximum limit of Rs. 1.5 lakh. It is the most widely used option to save income tax. The investments and expenditures that qualify for deduction under section 80C are investments in National Savings Certificates (NSC), Kisan Vikas Patra (KVP), notified Equity Linked Saving Scheme (ELSS) of a mutual fund, five-year post office term deposits, five-year bank fixed deposits, contribution to Employee Provident Fund (EPF), Public Provident Fund (PPF), Superannuation Funds and premiums paid for life insurance, annuity plan and Unit-Linked Insurance Plans (ULIP), etc.

These investments can not only be claimed as deduction while calculating your total taxable income but can also generate good returns. Moreover, investment in PPF, superannuation funds, etc. also help in accumulating funds for retirement planning.

Check TDS on Form 26A

Form 26A is an important document for tax filing. It provides details of the income paid to you, the tax deducted on that income and the amount of TDS deposited by the payer with the Government. The form also contains details of any refund applicable to you. To check your tax deduction on Form 26A, you have to go to https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in and login to your account. Next, you have to go to ‘My Account’ and click on ‘View Form 26AS’ in the drop down.

Conclusion

While filing your income tax return, ensure that you know the relevant ITR forms well, make the necessary disclosures, select appropriate assessment year, take advantage of 80C deductions and verify your TDS from Form 26A. This will ensure a smooth and hassle-free tax filing process.

What is House Rent Allowance (HRA)?

How to calculate exemption in respect of House Rent Allowance (HRA)?

Paying House Rent but Salary component does not have House Rent Allowance (HRA)

Important point in House Rent Allowance (HRA).

1. What is House Rent Allowance (HRA)?

Salaried employees receive House Rent Allowance (HRA) as a part of their salary income. If the employee lives in a rented accommodation, tax exemption can be claimed by the employee. As such there are no fixed criteria for the HRA payment. It all depends on the Salary structure of the employee, city of his employment and so on.

2. How to calculate House Rent Allowance (HRA) Exemption?

Deductions on Contribution to Pension Funds of Insurance Company

Tax exemption calculation in respect of House Rent Allowance (HRA) is quite simple. If an employee receives House Rent Allowance (HRA), he can claim least of the following three points as reduction from the actual HRA received:

Benefit of HRA tax exemption is available only if the employee pays house rent.

If you miss out to provide the rent payment details to your employer at the time of making declaration, you can claim House Rent Allowance (HRA) exemption at the time of filing ITR.

If an individual opts for Alternative Tax Regime under Section 115BAC deduction under House Rent Allowance (HRA) is not available from assessment year 2021-22.

Actual House Rent Allowance (HRA) received, or

50% of Basic Salary + Dearness Allowance (DA) (In metro cities)/ 40% of Basic Salary + DA (Non metro cities), or

Actual Rent Paid Less 10% of Basic Salary + DA

Let us understand HRA by a simple example:

Mr. Abhinav resides in Mumbai. He pays monthly rental of Rs. 12,000 for accommodation for the full year. The following is the monthly pay slip

PaymentsAmountDeductionsAmount

Basic35,000PF1,800

HRA15,000Professional tax200

Other Allowance3,000

LTA4,000

Earnings57,000Deductions2,000

House Rent Allowance (HRA) tax exemption for Mr. Abhinav will be as under:

PaymentsAmount

HRA Received

(Rs. 15,000 X 12)180,000

50% of Salary – 50% of Rs. 420,000

(Rs. 35,000 X 12)240,000

Actual Rent Less 10% of Salary

(Rs. 12,000 X 12) minus 10% of 420,000102,000

Tax Exempt HRA (least of 3 figures)102,000

So, Mr. Abhinav will be eligible for tax exemption of Rs. 102,000 out of total HRA received of Rs. 180,000 and thus only Rs. 78,000 shall form part of taxable income.

3. If I am paying House Rent but not receiving House Rent Allowance (HRA)?

If the salary component does not include House Rent Allowance (HRA), then no question of tax exemption for HRA arises even though the house rent is being paid by the employee. But this should not dishearten the taxpaying employee. He can claim deduction for house rent payment under Section 80GG. For more details on Section 80GG click here

4. Few Important points in House Rent Allowance (HRA)

Benefit of HRA tax exemption is available only if the employee pays house rent.

If you miss out to provide the rent payment details to your employer at the time of making declaration, you can claim House Rent Allowance (HRA) exemption at the time of filing ITR.

Who should file ITR and When?

Income Tax Return (ITR) is a form that a person needs to submit to the IT Department of India. It contains information about the person's income and the taxes to be paid on it during the year. But many misconceptions are there among taxpayers regarding ITR filing. This article aims to clear such misconceptions.

Our efforts at Daily Economics is aimed at simplifying the complex legal and financial jargon and present the information in an easy to understand manner. We have been trying to achieve that objective in all our articles especially in “Know Your Taxes” column. Previously we covered Selection of Correct ITR Form and Common Mistakes in filing Income Tax Returns in as simple English as possible. We received many queries from the readers regarding the TDS and 26AS. Both the articles had plenty of easy to understand pointers in deciphering income tax requirements. We have made a list of more such pointers in filing IT returns.

TDS and IT returns

There is a misconception among some taxpayers that if TDS has been deducted, then there is no need to file IT return or declare the same while filing the IT Return. It is to be noted that TDS is not the final Tax.

As per the provisions of Income tax Act, it is mandatory to file IT return if income is more than basic exemption limit i.e Rs.2.5 lakhs for individuals other than senior citizen and Rs. 3 lakhs for senior citizen. So, if your income is more than the specified limit, you are liable to file IT returns otherwise you will receive notice for non-filing of IT return, and this leads to penalties as well.

The taxpayer should consider the income on which TDS has been deducted and compute the final tax payable. Let us see this with an example for better understanding.

e.g: Mr. Naveen is a resident taxpayer. During the year, he earned fixed deposit interest of Rs. 1,00,000/- from SBI and the bank had deducted Rs. 10,000/- as TDS at the rate of 10%. He is also having income from other heads amounting to Rs. 12,00,000/-. The final tax can be computed as follows:

His total income for the year is Rs. 13,00,000/- (12 lakhs + 1 lakh). Tax on the same is Rs. 2,10,600/- (including cess). He can claim the TDS of Rs. 10,000/- and remaining tax Rs. 2,00,600/- has to be paid.

Since his income is more than Rs. 10 Lakhs, the income is subject to 30% tax slab. Hence the interest income which is earned is also subject to 30% tax. The tax payable on interest income is Rs. 31,200/- (including cess). He can claim Rs. 10,000/- which is TDS deducted by the bank and remaining tax has to be paid.

Reconciliation of information available in 26AS

CBDT has mandated certain persons including government agencies to report to income tax authorities on transactions like sale/purchase of immovable property, investment in securities, cash deposits more than 10 lakhs during the year.

It is imperative for the taxpayer to consider the following:

·         Reconciliation of income

·         Whether TDS claimed is matching with the amount reflecting in Form 26AS.

·         Income from securities have been offered to tax if the same is subject to tax under income tax act like dividends, capital gain on redemption of mutual funds.

If your employer/payer had deducted TDS but if the same is not reflecting  in Form 26AS ensure that the concerned parties files the necessary forms with IT department so that TDS is reflected in Form 26AS before filing the IT return.

TDS credit should be availed in the year in which the corresponding income is offered to tax.

e.g: Mr. Sai has bought a property of Rs. 60,00,000/- from Mr. Manoj and he has given an advance of Rs. 29,70,000/- by deducting Rs. 30,000/- as TDS in the year 2018-19. And in the year 2019-20, they have executed the sale deed and Mr. Sai has paid remaining amount of Rs. 29,70,000/- by deducting additional TDS of Rs. 30,000/-.

Now, Mr. Manoj has to declare income in the year 2019-20 and should claim the entire TDS of Rs. 60,000/- as the sale deed executed in the year 2019-20. He should not claim the TDS of Rs. 30,000/- in the year 2018-19 just because it is deducted and reflecting in 26AS.

There may be instances where some TDS credits are reflecting in Form 26AS which are not related to you, then the credit for same should not be taken.

The tax payer has to comply with requirement while filing the IT return to report the head of income under which income is offered to tax for every TDS credit. It is important that the correct head of income is selected against every TDS credit to avoid receiving notices from IT department for mismatch.

For example, when you are taking a credit for TDS on rental income, then the head of income should be income from house property and not income from other sources. 

Non-disclosure of exempt income

There is a misconception about disclosure of exempt incomes. The taxpayer has to disclose all incomes including exempt incomes. This includes agricultural incomes, savings bank interest, PPF interest and income from mutual funds.

Verification of IT returns

Just filing of IT return, will not end the process. It shall be verified manually or electronically within 120 days of filing of IT return. If you wish to verify manually, then you have to sign and send the IT return acknowledgment to the CPC. An electronic verification can be done through one of the four options, (a) through Aadhaar OTP (b) through net banking (c) through demat account (d) pre-validation of bank account number.

If you do not verify the return within 120 days from the date of filing, then the IT Return will be treated as invalid and considered as if you have not filed the return.  

There are multiple tools and online applications available which are provided by private players and income tax department for filing tax returns online, where information is captured from Form 26AS and Form 16. However, due caution should be exercised by taxpayer before submitting the tax return, particularly those who are filing on their own as the process will be completed instantly. Also, it is important to note that the taxpayer is responsible for all the information provided in the IT return.

  AUTHOR:

CA Govinda Reddy. M, ACA