The how and why of Income Tax Return

Income Tax Return is the legal obligation for every individual whose annual earnings for the previous year are more than the maximum limit of exemption for the payment of Income Tax in their respective category. The whole issue come under the provisions of the Income Tax Act 1961. ITR is filed when the particular entity has earnings have exceeded the levels mentioned in the Income Tax slabs according to the Income Tax Department.

Earlier, filing ITR was used to be a very complicated process and used to took days for the entire process to execute in a smooth manner. It also required a host of documents and certificates for verification purposes making it a very confusing and tedious process. But now with the introduction of online process of filing tax returns, submission of IT forms has become faster and more efficient. It saves the time of the claimant and the filing process becomes much easier for the Income Tax Department to handle. The amount of paperwork involved also has reduced drastically.

Income Tax Return has to be filed through a different Income Tax Form for every entity which is not confusing at all thanks to the persistent efforts of the Government to simplify the tax submission process. There are in total eight forms for the submission of Income Tax. Every type of entity has to file the Income Tax Return through a different Income Tax Return form(s).

Following is the list of forms explained in the simplest manner to clear all the doubts in the minds of people who are due to file returns but are yet to identify the correct form to do so -
ITR-1 is for Individuals having Income from Salary/ Pension/ family pension & Interest
ITR-2 is for Individuals and Hindu Undivided Family (HUF) not having Income from Business or Profession
ITR-3 is for Individuals/HUFs being partners in firms and not carrying out business or profession under any proprietorship
ITR-4 is for individuals & HUFs having income from a proprietary business or profession
ITR-5 is for firms, Association of People (AOP) and BOIs
ITR-6 is for Companies other than companies claiming exemption under section 11
ITR-7 is for persons including companies required to furnish return under section 139(4A) or section 139(4B) or section 139(4C) or section 139(4D)
ITR-8 is for the Return for Fringe Benefits

There has been a new form introduced called the ITR V through which all the data of the Return of Income/Fringe Benefits in Form ITR-1, ITR-2, ITR-3, ITR-4, ITR-5, ITR-6 & ITR-8 transmitted electronically without digital signature. This form was specially introduced to cater to the needs of the filers who intend to use the online submission process.

The whole proces of Income Tax Return filing can now be performed online. The amount of Income Tax can be calculated with the help on Income Tax Calculator and then the submission made online through the Income Tax Return forms online. The task of filing returns has now been made considerably easier and less time-consuming which is why people are all gung-ho about it.