With an aim to ease the process of income tax return (ITR) filing, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has come out with a draft proposal to introduce a common ITR form for most taxpayers. The CBDT has proposed to merge all the existing ITR forms except ITR 7. “It proposes to introduce a common ITR by merging all the existing returns of income except ITR-7. The draft ITR aims to bring ease of filing returns and reduce the time for filing the ITR by individuals and non-business-type taxpayers considerably,” the CBDT said.
Experts are of the view that the tax department is moving towards automation for ITR filing with each passing year.
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All taxpayers, except trusts and non-profit organizations, can file returns with the proposed new common ITR form, on which the CBDT has invited stakeholder comments by December 15, 2022. The CBDT, under the finance ministry, said that ITR-1 and 4 would continue, but individuals would also have the option to file returns of income in the common ITR form.
How will it actually help the taxpayers?
Experts said that frequent changes in the ITR filing process make it onerous for taxpayers, who have to re-learn the process to e-file. It also means the flow introduced last year by the department will have to undergo more change.
Mentioning the advantage of a common ITR form, CBDT said, “The taxpayers will not be required to see the schedules that do not apply to them.” The proposed draft ITR takes a relook at the return filing system in tandem with international best practices.
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Seven types of income tax return (ITR) forms:
ITR Form 1 (Sahaj) Sahaj can be filed by those having an income of up to Rs 50 lakh and who receive income from salary, one house property/other sources (interest etc).
ITR-2 is filed by people having income from residential property
ITR-3 by people having income as profits from business/ profession,
ITR Form 4 (Sugam) are simpler forms that cater to a large number of small and medium taxpayers.
ITR-5 is filed by LLPs
ITR- 6 is filed by businesses respectively
ITR-7 is filed by trusts.
