The Central Board of Direct Taxes has notified Income-tax Return Forms
(ITR Forms) for the Assessment Year 2017-18. One of the major reforms
made in the notified ITR Forms is the designing of a one page simplified
ITR Form-1(Sahaj). This ITR Form-1(Sahaj) can be filed by an individual
having income upto Rs.50 lakh and who is receiving income from salary
one house property / other income (interest etc.) . Various parts of ITR
Form-1 (Sahaj) viz. parts relating to tax computation and deductions
have been rationalised and simplified for easy compliance. This will
reduce the compliance burden to a significant extent on the individual
tax payer. This initiative will benefit more than two crore tax-payers
who will be eligible to file their return of income in this simplified
Form.
Simultaneously, the number of ITR Forms have been reduced from the
existing nine to seven forms. The existing ITR Forms ITR-2, ITR-2A and
ITR-3 have been rationalized and a single ITR-2 has been notified in
place of these three forms. Consequently, ITR-4 and ITR-4S (Sugam) have
been renumbered as ITR-3 and ITR-4 (Sugam) respectively.There is no change in the manner of filing of ITR Forms as compared to
last year. All these ITR Forms are to be filed electronically. However,
where return is furnished in ITR-1 (Sahaj) or ITR-4 (Sugam), the
following persons have an option to file return in paper form:-
(i) an individual of the age of 80 years or more at any time during the previous year; or
(ii) an individual or HUF whose income does not exceed five lakh rupees
and who has not claimed any refund in the return of income,
The notified ITR Forms are available on the department’s official website
