Income Tax Return Filing (All ITR Forms, Individuals to Companies)

The correct form depends on your legal status (individual, HUF, company, LLP, trust) and the types of income you have. Individuals with only salary, one house property, and interest income under ₹50 lakh use ITR-1. Add capital gains or foreign assets — use ITR-2. Add any business or professional income — use ITR-3. Opt for presumptive taxation under Section 44AD/44ADA — use ITR-4. Firms and LLPs use ITR-5. All companies (except charitable/religious entities) must file ITR-6. Charitable trusts, political parties, research institutions use ITR-7. PNPC determines your correct form before any preparation begins.

There is no universal answer. The new regime (Section 115BAC) has lower slab rates but disallows most deductions — HRA, home loan interest, LIC/PF/NSC under 80C, mediclaim under 80D, and others. The old regime retains all deductions but has higher slab rates. The new regime typically benefits taxpayers with few deductions — fresh graduates, young salaried employees with minimal investments. The old regime typically saves more for those with home loans, high HRA, significant 80C investments, mediclaim premiums for family, and NPS contributions. PNPC computes both and presents the difference in writing.

The Annual Information Statement (AIS), accessible on the IT portal, consolidates information received by the Income Tax Department from third parties — employers (Form 16), banks (interest paid, FDs opened), stockbrokers (securities transactions), mutual funds (purchase and redemption), registrars (property transactions), GST returns, and others. The department uses this data in automated processing. If your return does not account for an income visible in AIS — even if you believe it is exempt or a reporting error — it triggers a mismatch notice. PNPC downloads and reviews your AIS before preparing your return, and reconciles every line item.

Standard due dates are: 31 July for individuals, HUFs, and non-audit cases; 31 October for cases requiring tax audit (turnover above ₹1 crore for business, ₹50 lakh for professionals under the presumptive threshold), companies (ITR-6), and partners of firms subject to audit; 30 November for cases involving international or specified domestic transfer pricing. The CBDT has in recent years extended these dates by notification for specific assessment years, so always confirm the notified due date for the year you are filing rather than assuming the standard date applies. If you miss the applicable due date, a belated return can be filed up to 31 December of the assessment year (subject to any extension). Late filing fee under Section 234F: ₹1,000 if total income does not exceed ₹5 lakh; ₹5,000 otherwise. Additional interest under Section 234A on unpaid tax at 1% per month. Critically: if you file a belated return, you cannot carry forward capital losses or business losses to future years.

Listed equity shares and equity-oriented mutual funds (65%+ equity) held for more than 12 months generate Long Term Capital Gains (LTCG) — taxed at 12.5% under Section 112A, with the first ₹1.25 lakh per year exempt (this rate and exemption threshold apply to transfers on or after 23 July 2024). If held for 12 months or less: Short Term Capital Gains (STCG) taxed at 20% under Section 111A. Debt mutual funds (purchased on or after 1 April 2023) are taxed as short-term capital gains at your applicable slab rate regardless of holding period — the indexation benefit was removed for such investments from FY 2023-24. Immovable property held for more than 24 months: LTCG is taxed at 12.5% without indexation for transfers on or after 23 July 2024, though for property acquired before 23 July 2024 taxpayers may compare this against 20% with indexation and pay whichever is lower — this comparison option was introduced specifically to protect taxpayers from losing the indexation benefit on older acquisitions. Grandfathering applies separately to listed equity gains for assets held before 31 January 2018 — acquisition cost is the higher of actual cost or fair market value on 31 Jan 2018.

Yes. Under Section 139(5), a revised return can be filed at any time before the end of the relevant assessment year or before the assessment is completed, whichever is earlier — that is, up to 31 December of the assessment year in the normal course, subject to any extension notified by the CBDT for that year. There is no limit on the number of revisions within this window. A belated return (filed after the original due date) can also be revised. Revisions can increase or decrease income — both are permitted. You cannot revise an already-assessed return; in that case, a rectification under Section 154 is needed.

Several reasons: the employer deposited TDS against your PAN late or in the wrong quarter — so it does not appear in Form 26AS on the filing date; the employer claimed an incorrect PAN in the TDS return, mismatching the credit; you have income from other sources (interest, freelance, capital gains) not covered by the employer's TDS; or the advance tax on such other income was inadequate. The Section 143(1) intimation from CPC applies the department's view of available credit and flags any mismatch. PNPC cross-checks 26AS and AIS before filing, identifies credit gaps, and resolves them — either with the employer or by making the required payment.

An NRI must file an Indian ITR if their Indian-sourced income — rent from Indian property, capital gains from Indian shares or mutual funds, interest from Indian bank accounts, professional fees from Indian clients — exceeds the basic exemption limit. For NRIs, the applicable limit under the old regime is ₹2.5 lakh; new regime default applies unless opted out. NRIs cannot use ITR-1 — they must use ITR-2 or higher. NRIs may claim DTAA benefits on specific income types — for example, interest from NRO accounts may be taxed at a lower DTAA rate. TDS is typically deducted at higher rates on NRI income; filing enables refund of excess TDS.

Section 234F imposes a mandatory fee for filing a belated return (after the original due date but before 31 December of the assessment year). The fee is ₹1,000 if total income does not exceed ₹5 lakh. For total income above ₹5 lakh, the fee is ₹5,000. This fee is payable regardless of whether tax is due or whether the return shows a refund. It is not a penalty — it is a fee that appears directly in the ITR form and must be paid before filing. Note: if total income is below the basic exemption limit, no fee applies even if filing is belated.

Section 148 (or the new Section 148A as amended in 2021) is a reassessment notice issued when the assessing officer has reason to believe that income has escaped assessment in a prior year. The department must first issue a show-cause notice under 148A(b) giving you an opportunity to respond, then pass an order under 148A(d) determining whether reassessment is warranted, before issuing the 148 notice. Time limits for reassessment: 3 years from end of the relevant assessment year (up to income escaped ₹50 lakh); 10 years in cases where escaped income exceeds ₹50 lakh with prior PCIT/CCIT approval. This is not a routine compliance issue — respond through a qualified CA immediately.

ITR filing is mandatory for any taxpayer whose income exceeds the basic exemption limit. Tax audit under Section 44AB is an additional requirement for: business taxpayers whose total sales/turnover/gross receipts exceed ₹1 crore (₹10 crore if cash transactions are below 5% of total); professionals whose gross receipts exceed ₹50 lakh. Tax audit results in a report (Form 3CA/3CB and 3CD) issued by a Chartered Accountant, which must be uploaded on the IT portal before the ITR is filed. The ITR for an audit case is due by 31 October; the audit report itself should be ready and uploaded before the ITR due date.

Section 54 exempts LTCG on sale of a residential house property if the net consideration is reinvested in purchasing a new residential property (within 1 year before or 2 years after sale) or constructing one (within 3 years). The exemption is limited to ₹10 crore of LTCG. If reinvestment is not completed before the ITR due date, the amount must be deposited in a Capital Gains Account Scheme (CGAS) with a scheduled bank before filing. Section 54F exempts LTCG from any long-term capital asset (other than residential property) if the entire net consideration — not just the gain — is invested in a new residential property. Both require you to own only one other residential property at the time of sale.

Schedule FA (Foreign Assets) in the ITR is mandatory for resident individuals and HUFs who are tax residents of India ('Resident and Ordinarily Resident') and who, at any time during the previous year, held any of the following: foreign bank accounts, financial interests in entities outside India, immovable property outside India, accounts held as trustee/beneficiary/settlor of a foreign trust, any other foreign capital asset. This disclosure is mandatory under the Black Money Act 2015 — failure to disclose is a criminal offence with penalty of ₹10 lakh per default, regardless of tax liability. NRIs (Non-Residents) are not required to file Schedule FA.

Belated returns for a given assessment year can be filed only up to 31 December of that assessment year. You cannot file a belated return for an earlier year on your own initiative after that. However, if the assessing officer issues a notice under Section 142(1) requiring you to file, you must file even for an old year. In some cases, the CBDT issues condonation-of-delay circulars allowing late filings for specific categories. For years where the normal belated-filing window has passed, the only way to get your tax records in order is through a formal application for condonation of delay to the Commissioner of Income Tax. PNPC handles these cases.

Under the new regime (Section 115BAC) as revised for FY 2025-26 (AY 2026-27), income is taxed in wider slabs than in earlier years, with progressively higher rates above ₹4 lakh, and the Section 87A rebate has been increased so that taxable income up to ₹12 lakh (₹12.75 lakh for salaried taxpayers after standard deduction) attracts effectively nil tax, subject to the rebate not applying to certain special-rate incomes such as capital gains. The old regime slabs and rates are unchanged and continue to apply if you opt out. Because slab structures are revised periodically by the annual Finance Act, PNPC always computes your liability using the rates notified for the specific assessment year you are filing, rather than assuming last year's numbers still apply.

Technically yes — ITR-1 for a single-employer salaried individual with no other complicating income is one of the simpler forms. Many taxpayers file it themselves via the department's utility or a portal. The risk is not the mechanics of filing but what gets missed: HRA computed incorrectly, a deduction you are entitled to left unclaimed, an AIS entry (interest, dividend, or a small capital gain) not reflected in your return, or a regime choice that costs more tax than necessary. PNPC reviews the full picture even for simple salaried returns, and the fee is usually modest for this category.

Each employer computes TDS assuming you have no other income during the year, which under-withholds tax when your combined income from both employers pushes you into a higher slab. You must combine income from both Form 16s, compute tax on the aggregate, and pay any shortfall as self-assessment tax before filing. Employers are required to consider previous employment income if you furnish Form 12B, but this is rarely done comprehensively in practice.

Yes, if your gross total income exceeds the basic exemption limit, or if any of the other mandatory-filing conditions apply — for example, if clients have deducted TDS under Section 194J and you want the refund, or if your bank has deducted TDS on high-value transactions. Freelancers and consultants generally file ITR-3 (regular books) or ITR-4 (if opting for presumptive taxation under Section 44ADA, available to specified professionals with gross receipts up to the prescribed limit). Presumptive taxation lets you declare 50% of gross receipts as income without maintaining detailed books, subject to conditions.

Fees are structured around complexity, not a flat per-form price: a simple salaried ITR-1 return costs materially less than a return involving multiple capital gains transactions, foreign assets, or business income requiring tax audit coordination. We scope the fee after the initial income-profile review, once we know what the return actually involves, rather than quoting a number before seeing your documents. For retainer clients, ITR filing is typically bundled with the annual engagement rather than billed separately.

Interest income from savings accounts, fixed deposits, and recurring deposits is fully taxable (though savings account interest up to ₹10,000 per year is deductible under Section 80TTA for non-senior citizens, and up to ₹50,000 under Section 80TTB for senior citizens). Banks report this interest to the department, and it appears in your AIS. If your filed return omits interest that AIS shows, it typically triggers an automated mismatch flag rather than a full scrutiny, and can usually be resolved by filing a revised return within the permitted window or responding to the AIS feedback mechanism.

TDS (Tax Deducted at Source) is tax withheld by the payer — employer, bank, client — at the time of payment, and credited against your final liability. Advance tax is tax you pay directly in instalments during the year on income not covered, or under-covered, by TDS — such as capital gains, freelance income, or rental income where the tenant does not deduct TDS. If your total tax liability after TDS credit exceeds ₹10,000 for the year, you are required to pay advance tax in instalments (typically by 15 June, 15 September, 15 December, and 15 March) to avoid interest under Sections 234B and 234C.

First, verify it is genuinely an error and not a transaction you have forgotten (nominee-held units, a SIP set up years ago, or a folio under a slightly different name variant are common causes of apparent 'phantom' entries). If it is confirmed incorrect, use the AIS feedback mechanism on the portal to flag it as 'information is incorrect' or 'not relevant to this PAN,' with supporting reasoning. Do this before filing your return — a documented AIS feedback response is your evidence if the entry is later questioned, even though the correction may take time to reflect in the AIS database itself.

Not automatically. Tax audit under Section 44AB is triggered for a business only when turnover exceeds ₹1 crore (extended to ₹10 crore if cash receipts and payments are each below 5% of the respective total). Below that threshold, you can either maintain regular books and file ITR-3, or opt for presumptive taxation under Section 44AD — declaring at least 6% of turnover (for digital receipts) or 8% (for cash receipts) as taxable income without maintaining detailed books, and file ITR-4. Presumptive taxpayers who declare income below the prescribed percentage, and whose actual income exceeds the basic exemption limit, do trigger a mandatory tax audit regardless of turnover.

At minimum: PAN, Aadhaar, Form 16 (if salaried), bank account details for refund, and access to download your Form 26AS and AIS from the portal (or authorisation for us to do so). Additional documents depend on your income mix — capital gains statements, home loan certificates, rental agreements, business books, or foreign asset details as applicable. A straightforward salaried return can typically be completed within a few working days of receiving complete documents; returns involving capital gains, business income, or foreign assets take longer because of the reconciliation and computation work involved.

Rental income is taxed under 'Income from House Property.' You can deduct municipal taxes actually paid during the year, then a flat 30% standard deduction on the balance (Net Annual Value) under Section 24(a) — this is available regardless of your actual maintenance expenses. Home loan interest is separately deductible under Section 24(b), without the ₹2 lakh cap that applies to a self-occupied property (the cap applies only to self-occupied property; for let-out property, the entire interest is deductible, though the resulting loss that can be set off against other income in a year is capped at ₹2 lakh, with the balance carried forward).

ESOPs and RSUs are taxed at two points: at exercise/vesting, the difference between fair market value and the exercise price is taxed as a perquisite under salary income (usually already reflected in Form 16 with TDS deducted); at sale, the difference between sale price and the fair market value at exercise/vesting is taxed as a capital gain — short or long term depending on the holding period from the vesting date. For foreign employer stock (typically US-listed RSUs from an Indian subsidiary of a multinational), the Schedule FA foreign asset disclosure is also usually triggered, and the sale needs to be reported with the correct cost basis in the currency conversion applicable on the relevant dates.

Refunds are processed to a bank account that is pre-validated on the e-filing portal and linked to a PAN that matches the name on the return. Common causes of refund delay or failure: bank account not pre-validated, IFSC changed after a bank merger and not updated, PAN-Aadhaar not linked, or a mismatch flagged in the Section 143(1) intimation that must be resolved before the refund releases. We verify bank pre-validation and PAN-Aadhaar linkage as a standard step before filing, precisely to avoid this class of delay.

Yes, and it is mandatory. Companies (ITR-6) and LLPs (ITR-5, or ITR-4 if the LLP is not applicable — LLPs always use ITR-5) must file a return every year regardless of whether any business was conducted, and regardless of profit, loss, or complete dormancy. Failure to file exposes the entity to late filing fees under Section 234F, and for companies, ongoing non-filing compounds with MCA annual filing defaults and can affect the ability to close the entity later through the fast-track exit route, which requires updated tax filings.

Yes. A resident individual who is a director in any company (Indian or foreign) cannot use ITR-1, regardless of how simple their other income is. They must use ITR-2 (if no business/professional income) or ITR-3 (if they also have business/professional income). The return also requires specific disclosure of the directorship — company name, PAN or foreign registration details, and whether the shares are listed or unlisted.

Holding unlisted equity shares at any time during the year — even without any sale — requires disclosure in ITR-2 or ITR-3 (never ITR-1), including company name, PAN, opening and closing number of shares, and any shares acquired or transferred during the year with cost and consideration. If you sold unlisted shares, the resulting capital gain is computed without the concessional listed-equity rates — unlisted equity LTCG (holding over 24 months) and STCG follow different rate and indexation rules from listed shares.

Filing itself is entirely electronic on the central Income Tax e-filing portal, so location does not change the mechanics — but document collection, regime and deduction advice, and notice response are handled by the team closest to your usual point of contact, with senior CA review consistent across all offices. For Dubai-based clients — NRIs, returning residents, or those with cross-border income — we coordinate FEMA and DTAA considerations alongside the ITR itself, since NRI and cross-border cases often intersect with residency status determination and remittance rules that a purely India-based preparer may not flag.

If the intimation shows a demand or adjustment you disagree with, you can file a rectification request under Section 154 if the error is apparent from the record (a computation mistake, a TDS credit not matched, an arithmetical error), or file an appeal to the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) under Section 246A if the disagreement is on a matter of interpretation or fact requiring adjudication. Rectification is faster and appropriate for clerical or matching errors; appeal is the route for substantive disputes. Both have defined time limits from the date of the intimation, so prompt review of any intimation is essential.

Online ITR portals are data-entry services — you upload documents, the system populates fields, someone presses submit. They do not review your AIS for discrepancies. They do not compute regime comparison. They do not identify missed deductions. They do not correct capital gains errors. They do not advise on Section 54 exemption before the filing deadline. And when a notice arrives — as it increasingly does under the faceless assessment regime — a portal has nothing to offer. PNPC charges a professional fee because a practising CA reviews your return, identifies tax savings, and stands behind it. The tax saved or the notice avoided in one year routinely exceeds the PNPC fee for several years.