ITR AY 2026-27: Should You Report Loans, Gifts And Inheritance Under The New Field?

Individual taxpayers filling their Income Tax Return (ITR) for the Assessment Year (AY) 2026-27 will find that there is a new box called "Receipts not in the nature of income" in the online portal of tax filing. Although this might seem confusing, however, it is clarified by tax experts that it doesn't mean that there is some new tax or that previously non-taxable receipts have become taxable.

This field is rather added to increase disclosure and enable individuals to separately state certain receipts which do not amount to income under the Income-tax Act.

What is this New Disclosure Box?

The disclosure box has been added in the online filing utility and JSON schema but is missing from the official ITR forms and their PDF versions.

As per the Mint report, the new field is included in order to enable taxpayers to state the amount received during the financial year which does not qualify as taxable income but can create problems for them with tax authorities.

Why Has This Field Been Introduced?

It has been claimed that the new reporting field is only meant for additional disclosure.
According to Ankit Jain, Partner, Ved Jain and Associates, taxpayers have always had to report their exempt income wherever applicable. But the new reporting field relates to those receipts which do not fall in the definition of income according to Income-tax Act.

This way, the taxpayer can clearly show the source of funds if his/her return is scrutinized by the Income Tax Department.

Which Receipts Can Be Reported?

Some examples of receipts that may be disclosed under the new field include:

• Loans received
• Money received through inheritance
• Amount received from the sale of personal assets

These receipts are generally not treated as taxable income but may now be reported separately for better transparency.

Experts also advise taxpayers to ensure that exempt income is disclosed under the correct category and not reported under this new residual head without proper understanding.

Does This Mean These Receipts Are Now Taxable?

No
As the tax experts have made clear, the emergence of this subject does not impact the taxability of these receipts.

As noted by Ritika Nayyar, Partner at Singhania & Co., this reporting section creates no new legal duty or tax liability.

Examples include:

• Gifts received from relatives as defined above will still be exempt from taxation.
• Receipts of gifts in connection with a marriage will still be exempted from taxes under the law.
• A loan is still classified as a capital receipt and not income.
• Cash received from the sale of rural agricultural land will still be exempt from tax under the rules for capital gains tax since this land is not considered a capital asset.

Should Taxpayers Fill This Section?

According to the experts, eligible taxpayers can use the field for making extra disclosures wherever necessary.

Nevertheless, the mere inclusion of the section in the filing utility does not imply that all non-taxable receipts need to be disclosed through it.
The taxpayers need to determine the nature of each receipt and then make a disclosure under the proper heading.