Early availability of ITR forms to enable return filing from April 1: CBDT

The Income Tax department on Wednesday said the ITR forms for 2022-23 will come into effect from April 1 and have been notified well in advance to enable the filing of returns from the beginning of the ensuing Assessment Year.

To facilitate taxpayers and to improve the ease of filing, no significant changes have been made to the ITR forms in comparison to the last year's ITR Forms. Only bare minimum changes necessitated due to amendments in the Income-Tax Act, 1961, have been made, it added.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) on February 10 notified income tax return forms 1-6 for individuals, professionals and businesses for income earned in 2022-23. Also, ITR-7 form for charitable trusts, scientific research institute, political parties and universities was notified on February 14.

"These ITR forms will come into effect from April 1, 2023, and have been notified well in advance in order to enable filing of returns from the beginning of the ensuing Assessment Year," the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said in a statement.

Usually, ITR forms for a particular financial year are notified by the end of March or early April.

ITR Form 1 (Sahaj) and ITR Form 4 (Sugam) are simpler forms that cater to a large number of small and medium taxpayers. Sahaj can be filed by a resident individual having income up to Rs 50 lakh and who receives income from salary, one house property, other sources (interest) and agricultural income up to Rs 5,000.

Sugam can be filed by individuals, Hindu Undivided Families (HUFs) and firms (other than Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs)) being a resident having total income up to Rs 50 lakh and income from business and profession.

Individuals and HUFs not having income from business or profession (and not eligible for filing Sahaj) can file ITR-2 while those having income from business or profession can file ITR-3.

"In order to further streamline the ITR filing process, not only have all the ITR forms been notified well in time this year, no changes have been made in the manner of filing of ITR Forms as compared to last year," the CBDT said.