ITR Filing – FY 2015-16 (AY 2016-17) – ITR 1 (Sahaj), ITR 2, Form 26AS, Know Your Jurisdictional Ward

This post is written by Shiv Kukreja, who is a Certified Financial Planner and runs a financial planning firm, Ojas Capital in Delhi/NCR. He can be reached at skukreja@investitude.co.in

We are fast approaching July 31, the due date of filing income tax returns (ITRs) for the previous financial year i.e. FY 2015-16 or assessment year 2016-17. If you have not filed your income tax return till now and you think you are filing it late, don’t be disheartened. I think more than 80% ITRs get filed during the last ten days before the due date. But, don’t be lazy anymore, file it today itself and stay relaxed.

In the next 2-3 days, I’ll try to write a couple of posts covering some important aspects of ITR filing. In this post, I have covered various ITR forms which are applicable to you as an individual or your HUF depending on various sources of income you have.

Which ITR form is applicable to you?

ITR 1 (SAHAJ) – For Individuals having Salary Income or Pension Income, Interest Income from various investments and/or Rental Income from only one house property.

If you have a self-occupied house property and there is a home loan for which you are paying EMIs, you can claim benefit under section 24 for the payment of interest on your home loan. However, if you have more than one house property, whether self-occupied, let-out or vacant, this form is not applicable to you. Moreover, if you have agricultural income of more than Rs. 5,000 and/or income from capital gains, whether taxable or tax-exempt, then also you cannot use this form. In all such cases, you are required to use either ITR 2 or ITR 2A. Please note, HUFs cannot use ITR 1.

ITR 2A – For Individuals or HUFs having Income from various sources including Salary, House Property and/or Income from Other Sources, but other than Income from Business or Profession, Capital Gains and Foreign Assets.

In case you have more than one house property and/or have agricultural income more than Rs. 5,000, then you can use this form.

This is an extended version of ITR 1, seeking a little more information as compared to ITR 1, but a lot less than ITR 2. If you have taxable income from short term capital gains either on equity shares or mutual funds or income from foreign assets or any kind of business income, then you cannot use this form. Use either ITR 2 or ITR 4 instead.

ITR 2 – For Individuals or HUFs having Income from various sources including Salary, House Property, Capital Gains and/or Income from Other Sources, but other than Income from Business or Profession.

If you have Income from Capital Gains or if you have income from more than one house property or if your income from other sources is negative or if you have income from any of your foreign assets, then you need to use this form to file your ITR.

ITR 3 – For Individuals or HUFs being Partners in Firms, but not carrying out any Business or Profession in the name of any Proprietorship Firm.

This form can be used by an individual or HUF even if he/she has taxable income from other sources or has income from foreign assets or agricultural income more than Rs. 5,000.

ITR 4S – For Individuals or HUFs or Partnership Firms having Income from a Presumptive Business. In other words, if your business income is taxable on some presumptive or predefined basis, then this form is applicable to you.

You cannot use this form if you have more than one house property or have taxable income from capital gains or agricultural income of more than Rs. 5,000 or income from foreign assets.

ITR 4 – For Individuals or HUFs having Income from a Proprietorship Firm, apart from any other source of income.

Checklist of Documents required to file ITR

* Form 16 (For Salaried Employees)

* Form 26AS

* Bank Statement for FY 2015-16 i.e. from April 1, 2015 to March 31, 2016

* 80C Investment Proofs

* Other Receipts for Claiming Tax Benefits, such as 80D, 80CCD (1B) etc.

* Home Loan Annual Statement having Interest & Principal Bifurcation

* Last year’s ITR

* Balance Sheet, P&L Account and other Audit Reports wherever applicable

* Other Applicable Documents

I’ll try to cover the following topics in the next 2-3 days.

Know Your Jurisdictional Assessing Officer and/or Assessment Ward

Download Form 26AS

E-filing Video

Pay Self-Assessment Tax Online

Tax Treatment of Derivatives Trading

In case you think there is something more interesting to cover, please suggest.

16 thoughts on “ITR Filing – FY 2015-16 (AY 2016-17) – ITR 1 (Sahaj), ITR 2, Form 26AS, Know Your Jurisdictional Ward”

  1. Have received a ‘MATURITY BONUS’ of around Rs.10,000 with my P.O. MIS Scheme maturity amount.  Is this amount to be declared as ‘income from other sources’/fully taxable or is this MATURITY BONUS fully ‘EXEMPT/TAX-FREE’? 

    Please advise. 

  2. Hi Shiv,

    Can I claim Deduction in HUF Income filing for contribution to Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana.

    Though I invested through my personal account and not through my HUF bank account.

      1. But Shiv, don’t you feel this dis-allowance is not in correct spirit.

        If I had made payment through my HUF bank account by transferring same money first from my personal bank account to HUF bank account, it becomes eligible for deduction.
        Infact, I could have done that extra step, but I was lazy to make 2 transactions.

        So, in effect, Tax authority are asking us to make that an additional bookish transfer to claim the deduction.

        1. Hi Rohit,
          If it is not fair to disallow such a deduction, it is not unfair as well from the I-T department’s angle. As HUF is a separate legal entity, you should have been careful while making such payments. However, this is my personal view, you may disagree with it.

  3. Dear Mr. Shiv Kukreja,

    I have tried to find answer for this query at other places too but could not find proper reply. Hope you will help me.

    Recently, I changed address in PAN card from Delhi address to Bangalore where I am settled now (possibly for ever). I filed IT Return online from Bangalore but Acknowledgement still shows Designation of AO(Ward/Circle) CIRCLE 52(1), DELHI. Is it possible to get AO address changed to Bangalore? If yes, how. I want to get old files also get transferred from Delhi to Bangalore so that I can contact AO at Bangalore to get refund paid which for FY 2009-2010 ( this return was filed manually).

    Kindly reply ASAP. Thanking you. Best regards, RAKESH

    1. Hi Mr. Jain,
      In such a case, you are required to inform your existing jurisdictional assessing officer about change of address and request him/her to get your Income Tax Ward/Circle changed. You can submit a written application or write a mail for the same.

  4. Hi Shiv,

    I am filing the taxes as an NRI. I have long term capital gains from Mutual funds. So I am using ITR2. But one thing I do not know is if I should fill up FSI schedule with my US salary income. If I fill it up, then that income needs to be included in the total income and hence it will become taxable (according to DTAA of course). But for NRIs, their overseas income is not taxable in India. So I am confused if FSI schedule is applicable to NRIs or not. Please help..!

  5. Shiv, thanks for the article. One question: Does “interest income” from Fixed Deposits count as “Capital Gains”. If there is Salary income plus income from FDs, which form should be used? ITR-1 or ITR-2?

    1. Thanks Karthik!
      Interest income from FDs come under Income from Other Sources and not Capital Gains. You should use ITR 1 for Salary income + Interest income from FDs.

  6. Mr. Shiv, Regret your ITR relalated article was EXTREMELY LATE in coming, with hardly 4 days to the deadline. Anyway, do please cover Large GIFTS , Large INHERITANCES which I understand should be shown under ‘EXEMPT INCOME’. I understand for showing large gifts/inheritances, we cannot use ITR-1 & ITR-2 should be used. Please clarify in detail on this particular subject.

  7. Hi Shiv,
    I will wait for your post before filing my return, hope you will post all of them before 30th July 2016.

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