Income Tax Return — Who Must File, and How

Filing is not the same as paying. There are situations where a return is required regardless of whether any tax is due, and people miss this because their employer already deducted TDS.

• Your total income before deductions exceeds the basic exemption limit.
• You want a refund of TDS that was over-deducted — you cannot get one without filing.
• You hold foreign assets or have signing authority over a foreign account.
• You meet any of the specified high-value transaction conditions, which include large deposits, large electricity bills and foreign travel spending above thresholds.
• You want to carry forward a loss to set against future income. This is only possible if the return is filed by the due date.

Choosing the wrong form results in a defective return, which you then have to correct within a limited window. The portal now suggests a form based on your answers, and that suggestion is usually right — but it depends on the information you give it.

If you have capital gains, ITR-1 does not apply, however simple the rest of your income is. This is the most common misfiling.

1. Confirm your PAN is linked to Aadhaar. An inoperative PAN cannot be used to file.
2. Pre-validate a bank account on the portal — refunds are only issued to a pre-validated account.
3. Download Form 26AS and the Annual Information Statement from the portal.
4. Reconcile the TDS in your Form 16 against Form 26AS. They should match exactly.
5. Check the AIS for interest, dividends and transactions you may have forgotten. Income reported there and missing from your return is what generates a notice.
6. Decide your regime. The one your employer applied for TDS is not binding on you at filing.

1. Log in to incometax.gov.in and choose e-File → Income Tax Return.
2. Select the assessment year and the form.
3. Much of the return is pre-filled from Form 26AS and the AIS. Check every pre-filled figure rather than trusting it.
4. Add anything missing, claim your deductions, and confirm the tax computed.
5. Submit.
6. E-verify within 30 days — by Aadhaar OTP, net banking, a demat account, or by posting a signed ITR-V to the CPC.