“This is a welcome step towards ease of doing business in India and
simplifying administrative procedures for the common man. This ITR
Form-1(S) can be filed by an individual having income up to Rs 50 lakh
from salary, one house property and other income like bank interest,
etc. This marks the end of the 7-page cumbersome ITR -1 form which was
earlier filed by salaried individuals,” says Gautam Kapil, Tax
Consultant, V K Kapil & Co Chartered Accountants.
Who can file the simplified return form?
Only individuals having salaried income/one house property income/ bank interest income/ any other income stand to benefit.
Changes to keep in mind before filing ITR-1(S)
Part A: General Information — Aadhaar information is compulsory. In case
an individual doesn’t have an Aadhaar number but has applied for it, he
can give Aadhaar Enrollment ID.
Part E: Other Information – A new column has been introduced to report
‘Cash deposited during November 09, 2016 to December 30, 2016’ (if
aggregate cash deposits exceeds Rs 2 lakh).
Schedule A1 – Schedule for details of Assets and Liabilities that was introduced last year has now been removed.
Columns relating to tax deductions have been rationalized, reducing the
number of columns to just 5 as compared to earlier 19. “Commonly-used
deductions like Section 80C(LIC), 80D (Mediclaim), 80TTA (savings
account interest) & 80G (donation) have been provided for. Any other
deductions can be mentioned under column ‘Any other’,” says Kapil.
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.
This will reduce the compliance burden to a significant extent on the
salaried class & individual tax payers not having any business
income.
As per the press release issued by the government, this initiative will
benefit more than two crore tax-payers who will be eligible to file
their return of income in this simplified Form.
It should be noted that from July 1, 2017, it would become mandatory for
an individual to mention his Aadhaar card number or the number showing
that he has applied for the Aadhaar card in the new ITR forms.
Individuals who have income of less than Rs 5 lakh (not having any
refund of taxes) or are super senior citizens can download the ITR-1(S)
return form from
http://www.incometaxindia.gov.in/Pages/downloads/income-tax-return.aspx
and have an option of filing it manually. Please note that this form is a
specimen available on income tax website for manual filing.
“The new form is still not available for e-filing on the income tax
India e-filing platform and is expected to be out soon,” says Kapil.
Source: FE
