The income tax return forms ITR-1, ITR-2, and ITR-4 for fiscal year 2023-24 (AY 2024-25) are now available for e-filing on the Income Tax Department web. The online ITR forms were made accessible on April 1, 2024. Taxpayers who are qualified to file their returns can now log on and complete their ITRs for Fiscal Year 2023-24 using these ITR forms. The deadline to file income tax returns for FY 2023-24 (AY 2024-25) is July 31, 2024.

The Income Tax Department previously provided the offline Excel tools for ITR-1, ITR-2, and ITR-4. The offline JSON utilities for ITR-1, ITR-2, ITR-4, and ITR-6 for Fiscal Year 2023-24 (AY 2024-25) have already been released.

Income Tax Forms

There are seven varieties of ITR forms: ITR 1 (Sahaj), ITR 2, ITR 3, ITR 4, ITR 5, ITR 6, and ITR 7, for various people, businesses, and companies. Now, while submitting the ITR, the prevalent question is which form taxpayers should utilize. ITR-1 and ITR-4 are simplified forms designed to serve a large number of small and medium-sized taxpayers.

1. ITR 1 (Sahaj): This is the basic ITR form for individual taxpayers having a total income of up to Rs 50 lakh from salary, one residential property, other sources of income such as interest, family pension, and agricultural income of up to Rs 5,000. Individuals with income from outside India, assets (including financial interests in any business) situated outside the nation, or tax deducted under section 194N are not eligible to utilize this form.

2. ITR-2: This form is for individuals and Hindu Undivided Families (HUFs) who are not covered by the ITR-1. If the person/HUF does not have income under Profits, Profession, or Business Gains, they will file an ITR-2 form.

3. ITR-3 can be used by individuals or Hindu Undivided Families whose income is classified as "profits or gains of business or profession" and who are ineligible to submit Forms ITR-1 (Sahaj), ITR-2, or ITR-4.

4. ITR-4 (Sugam): Individuals, Hindu Undivided Families (HUFs), and businesses (other than LLPs) with a total income of up to Rs 50 lakh from business and profession are eligible to submit ITR-4. These taxpayers have income from business and profession, which is assessed on a presumptive basis, as well as income from salary/pension, other sources (interest, dividends, etc.), one residential property, and more."

5. ITR 5: This form is appropriate for entities such as firms, bodies of individuals (BOIs), limited liability partnerships (LLPs), artificial judicial persons (AJPs), associations of persons (AOPs), insolvent estates, deceased estates, investment funds, business trusts, local governments, and co-operative societies.

6. ITR 6: This form must be filed by all companies, regardless of structure, that are registered under the Companies Act 2013 or the older Companies Act 1956.

Companies that derive their revenue from property held for religious or philanthropic purposes, on the other hand, are exempt from filing the ITR 6 Form.

7. ITR 7: Firms, companies, local governments, associations of persons (AOP), and Artificial Judiciary Persons are eligible to file an Income Tax Return using the ITR-7 Form if they claim exemption under one of the following categories: under Section 139 (4A)- if they earn from a charitable or religious trust.

Who should fill out the ITR?

Individuals with income beyond a specific level are obliged to file an Income Tax Return (ITR). Individuals whose total income exceeds the basic exemption limit: For the fiscal year 2022-2023 (AY 2023-2024), the basic exemption limitations for filing ITR in India were as follows.

1. Age Factor

• For persons under 60 years old: ₹2.5 lakh. 

• Senior persons aged 60-80 qualify for a ₹3 lakh benefit. 

• For those above 80 years old (super elderly citizens): ₹5 lakh 

• If your total income (before deductions) exceeds these limits, you must file an ITR. 

2. Individuals with certain sorts of income

• People who have made money through a company or vocation. 

• Individuals who have profited from capital gains, such as the sale of property or assets. 

• People who have made money from international assets or have foreign income. 

• Individuals claiming a tax refund. 

• Individuals who qualify for relief or deductions under double taxation avoidance agreements. 

How to File ITR

Taxpayers can file their ITR online, partially online, or partially offline. The JSON and Excel tools allow you to file IT returns partially online and partially offline.

Online: To file an income tax return online, log into an online account on the e-filing income tax site.

When the taxpayer navigates to the 'File income tax return' option, the majority of their information is pre-filled from their Annual Information Statement (AIS) and Form 26AS. One can cross-check your documents and fill out the form. Form 16, Form 16A, any other TDS certificate, interest certificate, salary slips, and so on are required documents when filing the ITR online.

One can file ITRs offline utilizing JSON and Excel utilities that can be obtained from the e-filing income tax system. Taxpayers can also get pre-filled data in offline utilities through their e-filing income tax account. Once the needed information is entered into the offline utilities, it must be uploaded to the e-filing website.