15 Major Changes in Income Tax Return Forms (ITR Forms) for AY 2018-19

1. Provide break-up of salary:
Assessee with income from salary, one house property and other sources (like interest) use the most basic one-page ITR-1 or Sahaj form. The form now seeks additional details of salary. The taxpayer first needs to fill up salary amount excluding allowances, perquisites, and so on. Then, provide details pertaining to perquisites, allowances, ‘profit in lieu of salary’, etc. Up to Assessment year 2017-18, an assessee was required to mention only the taxable figure of salary.
2. Income from House Property:
The new ITR-1 Sahaj form also seeks details about income from property such as gross rent received/ receivable/ letable value; tax paid to local authorities; annual value; interest payable on borrowed capital; and income chargeable under the head house property. The form now wants the taxpayer to provide the break-up of gross rent received, tax paid to local authorities, etc.
3. The taxpayers now need to give specific details in case of capital gains too:
The new ITR forms have specific columns to report each capital gain exemption separately. Details of each capital gains exemption under Sections 54, 54B, 54EC, 54EE, 54F, 54GB and 115F need to be reported in its applicable column now. A taxpayer availing these capital gains exemptions needs to mention the date of transfer of original capital asset which was missing in earlier ITR forms.
4. Penalties on late filing of tax returns:
If the return is furnished after the due date (July 31) but before December 31, the penalty is Rs 5,000 and Rs 10,000 after that. Tax experts believe that the income-tax software will not allow assessees to start filing their returns unless they pay the penalty first. Relevant changes have been included in the new ITR forms wherein a new row is added to enable the taxpayer to fill the details of late filing fees.
5. ITR form for Non-Resident:
Instead of the simple (ITR)-1 form, non-resident Indians (NRIs) will have file returns using the ITR-2 which seeks more information. Unlike last year, non-residents cannot use the ITR-I. “The ITR-1 form is not applicable to non-residents and not ordinarily residents, who would now have to file their tax returns in the ITR-2 form.
6. Refund in a foreign bank account:
Non-residents can seek a refund in a foreign bank account by providing details of one foreign bank account.
7. ITR 4 seeks more disclosure:
The presumptive taxation scheme – meant for small businesses such as freelancers and shop owners and for professionals such as doctors – does not require the taxpayer to maintain books of accounts or get their financials audited. The assessees can pay a percentage of their total turnover as the tax. The old ITR-4 sought only four details — total creditor and debtors, total stock-in-trade, and cash balance. But the new form asks for more financial details of the business such as the amount of secured and unsecured loans, advances, fixed assets, capital account and so on. The details sought essentially requires the person to maintain balance sheet to report the information asked.
8. GST details in income tax now:
The business owner also needs to provide GST number of the assessee and the amount of turnover based on the GST return filed. Earlier, business owners reported a different turnover for income tax and other indirect taxes based on their convenience. The details disclosed in the ITR can now be crossed-checked with the GST filing. These details are essentially sought after the implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST).
9. Changes in ITR 2:
The newly notified ITR-2 form is no longer applicable for individuals who have profits and gains from any business or profession. The assessee now needs to use ITR-3 to file the return. Until last year, a partner was allowed to file the return using ITR-2.
10. Reference for employee stock options:
The government had made changes to the taxation of employee stock option plan in an unlisted firm in the previous year’s Budget. The amendments are applicable from this assessment year. The new provisions state that if unlisted shares are transferred at a price which is lower than its fair market value (FMV), it would still be taxed at the FMV that a merchant banker or a chartered accountant calculates.While filing the return, employees will need to obtain valuation report in case of sale of unlisted shares to ensure that they correctly report the capital gains or loss. The ITR form also asks for the detailed break-up of such transaction.
11. Changes in ITR 6:
The ITR-6 meant for businesses now seeks many details about GST transactions. A company needs to disclose transactions in exempt goods or services, transactions with composite suppliers, transactions with registered entities and total sum paid to them and even those with unregistered entities. Business owners need to ensure that their GST returns filed matches with the details provided with those provided in the income tax form.
The new ITR 6 requires every unlisted company to provide details of all beneficial owners who are holding 10% or more voting power (directly or indirectly) at any time during the year 2017-18. These companies are required to provide the name, address, percentage of shares held and PAN of the beneficial owners.
12.Firms are required to quote Aadhaar number of their partners or members. Similarly, in case of a trust, Aadhaar number of related functionaries have to be mentioned.
13. Certain types of taxpayers are now required to mention registration number of the firm of chartered accountant which has done audit for the tax return.
14. Businesses will have to disclose income from property.
15. Removal of ‘Gender’ from personal information in ITR – Individual taxpayers who are filing income-tax return in Form ITR 2 or ITR 3 or ITR 4 aren’t required to mention the gender, i.e., male or female or transgender, as the column of gender has been removed. more