Income Tax return filing: Here are all the changes in ITR form for FY 2019-20

Income Tax return filing: You have two months left to file income tax returns for FY 2019-20. This means it is important to keep a tab on your investments and be aware of all the changes made by the Income Tax department recently. The I-T department, on its website, has different forms that can be used to file income tax returns based on different income sources and types of taxpayers. For Assessment Year 2019-20, there are seven forms available - ITR-1 to ITR-7. All these forms require different details and certain changes have been made to them this year. Heena Arora, Finance & Marketing Head, All India ITR explains the changes made in ITR forms for Assessment Year 2019-20 -

- Abiding by the new tax policy, this year, a taxpayer needs to share required details of the salary income as per the information available in the Form-16. Unlike last year, the information required was not in accordance with the Form-16 and hence this change has been brought to make the filing of the ITR hassle-free.

- Except for super senior citizens, all individuals need to file their ITR online. One can’t file the ITR-1 for FY 2018-19 in paper format with income below Rs 5 lakh with no refund.

- As per the changes, in the ITR-2 form, you will need to share the number of stay-days in India along with jurisdiction of your residence and tax identification number in case you are a non-resident. These details are to examine if an individual has correctly determined his residential status in the country from the number of days of stay in India.

- Under this regulation, if a taxpayer has sold the property during FY 2018-19, the person needs to share complete details of the buyer who has bought the property. Irrespective of whether it’s a short-term capital gain that one has received or long-term, the taxpayer should include all the buyer details.

- Another change in the form says, if you have any rent arrears in FY 2018-19, you will need to share these details property wise, as received while filing ITR-1 or ITR-2 as applicable. For people with one house property on rent, the rent amount needs to be mentioned in the ITR-1. Likewise, for individuals with two house properties on rent need to report the same amount in the ITR-2.

- While sharing property details in the ITR-1, you need to specify whether the property is - 'Self Occupied', 'Let-out' or 'Deemed Let-out.' Last year’s ITR-1 did not have 'Deemed Let-out' specification.

- Likewise, a taxpayer needs to furnish details of shares in an unlisted company in the ITR-2. You will need to provide complete details including the name of the company, PAN of the company, number and cost of purchase at the start of the year, number of shares, face value, issue price among others. Besides, as per the latest forms, if any individuals are holding directorships in unlisted companies shall not be eligible to file the Sahaj ITR-1. Therefore, you are required to disclose all the details of your investments in form ITR-2 for the assessment year 2019-20. This covers those who have received employee stock options (ESOPs) in unlisted companies, even includes those listed outside India.

- Complete break-up of the interest income along with any other income gained by an individual has to be shared. For a clear understanding, in the ITR-1 form, “income from other sources head” has added “source” from where the taxpayer has received the interest income or any other income during that period of time.

How to download Income Tax return forms?

These forms can be downloaded from the Income Tax department website. For this, you need to -

- Visit the Income Tax Department website

- Look for the option that says ‘Form/Downloads’ and click on it

- Select the ‘Income Tax Returns’ option from the drop-down menu

- You will be redirected to the ‘Income Tax Return’ webpage

- Download the form that seems applicable as per your source of income and assessment year.