Know about Sahaj (ITR-1) – Income Tax Return filing

Recently, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) notified the launch and use of new income tax return filing forms, named as Sahaj for the fiscal year of 2017-18. This is by far the easiest single page form to have ever been launched for IT return filing purposes. This form is aptly named as Sahaj (ITR 1), which has been introduced for individual assessees with an annual income for this financial year of about INR 50 Lakhs subject to certain conditions.

Who can file the ITR 1/ Sahaj?

The assessees allowed to file the ITR 1 are those who receive income from salaries or one residential property or some additional sources other than income from lottery or income from horse racing and such means.

Methods of filing ITR:

ITR 1 can be filled in one of following three ways:

1. One can do so electronically with a digital signature
2. Also electronically through a digital code
3. Or first doing so electronically and then submitting the ITR-V for verification of the Return Form

For the third option one must take two print outs of the Form ITR-V, one of which must be signed duly by the assessee; then mailed by post to the following address – Post Bag No. 1, Electronic City Office, Bengaluru 560 100, Karnataka.  The second copy may be retained by the assessee for their personal record keeping.

 How to file for returns in the physical form:

This is only allowed in a few special cases:

1. If the individual filing the return was above 80 years old in the previous year
2. If the income of the individual does not exceed INR 5 Lakh and no refund has been claimed.

In such cases, only one copy of the return form must be filed and if the return form is physically furnished, then the ITR-V or acknowledgement must also be duly filed for the same.

Mandatory information to be mentioned on the return:

1. Details of PAN
2. Email ID, mobile number
3. Residential address and status
4. Income and taxation details
5. Aadhaar number (if applied for Aadhaar but not yet received, then enrolment ID may be mentioned)

Note, effective from the 1^st of July, 2017 onwards Aadhar will be a mandatory field for Income Tax Return filing.

Important point to note about Sahaj:

It is important that you keep in mind that Sahaj is an annexure-less form, so do not attach any document with the form as it would be returned to the person filing the same.

You are not eligible to file ITR 1/ Sahaj if you have the following:

• Individuals whose total annual income exceeds INR 50 Lakhs
• Individuals with foreign assets
• Individuals with agricultural income of more than INR 5,000
• Those with taxable capital gains
• Individuals with income from business or profession
• Income from multiple residential (house) property

Main components of Sahaj:

• Part A: general information
• Part B: individual’s gross total income
• Part C: deductions and total taxable income
• Part D: computation of payable tax
• Part E: additional information
• Schedule IT: self assessed tax payments and details of advance taxes
• Scheduled TDS: necessary details of TDS/TCS