Filing Income Tax Returns To Become Even Easier: ITR Forms Will Now Be Pre-Filled, Says IT Department

The Income Tax (IT) department, working under the Ministry of Finance, has proposed to provide pre-filled forms to taxpayers, thereby making the filing process less cumbersome, as reported by DNA.

“Data available from entities that deduct tax at source such as employers and banks would be used to offer pre-filled tax return forms to people,” said Sushil Chandra, chairman of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT).

Income Tax Return (ITR) is the form that needs to be filed by an income tax assessee, providing details of his/her incomes and expenses for a given Assessment Year (AY). There are seven different types of ITRs - ITR 1 to 7, to serve the needs of different entities.

“About 80-90 per cent of taxpayers have only salary income, and very few have other sources of income. Offering pre-filled income tax return forms will increase compliance and lessen the burden on small taxpayers,” tax expert, Abhishek Goenka, stated to Mint.

Chandra also noted that the number of cases that are taken up for scrutiny by the department is still limited to less than 0.5 per cent of all the returns filed.

Also Read: Because Ease Of Doing Business Is Not Ease Of Filing Taxes