Income Tax Returns (ITR) form simplified: All details explained

New Delhi, June 24: After the controversy over Income Tax Returns (ITR) form, NDA government has come up with a new form, which has been simplified by the Finance Ministry-led by Arun Jaitley.

The deadline for taxpayers to file Income Tax Returns for assessment year 2015-16 has been extended till Aug 31, 2015. Sources informed that the government has simplified the ITR form.

What are the changes in new simplified ITR form:

• ITR-2A, the most simplified form, will be filled by those individuals and Hindu Undivided Families (HUFs) who do not have income from either business, profession or by way of capital gains.
• The form also will be filled by those who do not hold foreign assets.
• Taxpayers will have to mention passport number. However, this particular table on the form are having the words "if available".
• Tax-filers now will have to declare only about the "total number of savings and current bank accounts" held by them at any time during the previous year (excluding dormant accounts).
• The form also has space to fill up the IFSC code of the bank.
• Tax-payers will be given an option to indicate their bank accounts in which they would want their refund credited.
• Tax-filers also have to mention their Aadhaar number.
• Individual will also be given the options for providing two email ids.
• An additional four-page schedule also has been provided for those who wish to file anymore details, applicable in a case-to-case basis.
• In the ITR-2, for individuals and HUFs having income from business or profession, the form remains simple but they will have to declare if they hold any foreign assets abroad or have income from "any source outside India."
• An expat, who is not an Indian citizen and is in India on business, employment or student visa, would not mandatorily be required to report the foreign assets acquired by him during the previous years when he was non-resident and if no income was derived from such assets during the relevant previous year.

Controversy over previous form:

• It was a 14-page form that were notified earlier in 2015.
• Minute details such as foreign trips and bank account details were sought.
• Individuals, industrialists and MPs protested against the form saying that tax filing would become cumbersome.
• Tax-payers would have to mention details about their dormant bank accounts.
• Arun Jaitley had ordered putting these forms on hold following the controversy.

OneIndia News