Income Tax Return (ITR) filing for FY2023-24: The ITR filing season is underway with 31st July being the deadline like previous years. Tax return filing is a crucial annual task for taxpayers. For individual taxpayers, it’s imperative to gather all necessary documents required for ITR filing to avoid any last-minute rush or potential penalties for late submission.
By proactively organizing and readying necessary documents, taxpayers can streamline the ITR filing process and ensure compliance with tax regulations.
Section 139(1) of the IT Act mandates every taxpayer to file their return of income on or before the prescribed due date (i.e., 31st July, 31st October or 30th November of relevant Assessment Year as applicable). Suresh Surana, Founder, RSM India, talks about key documents needed by individual taxpayers who are not required to audit their financials, for ITR filing.
Section 139A(5) of the IT Act requires every person to quote his/her PAN in all his/her returns, challans and any other document as may be prescribed by the IT Act. Section 139AA(1) of the IT Act requires every person, who is eligible to obtain Aadhaar card, to quote the same in his/her return of income. Accordingly, taxpayers are also required to link their PAN card with Aadhar card in order to receive income tax refund and interest thereon.
Form 16 is issued by the employer comprises of all the details pertaining to salary and TDS deducted on same. Whereas Form 16A is issued by TDS deductors such as banks, contractors, etc, and includes information pertaining to TDS deducted on payments other than salaries, such as income from recurring deposits, fixed deposits, etc.
Form 26AS displays details of property purchases, high-value investments, and TDS/TCS transactions carried out during the financial year. AIS additionally includes savings account interest, dividend, rent received, purchase and sale transactions of securities/immovable properties, foreign remittances etc.
Further, TIS summaries the tax information available with the Income Tax Department pertaining to a particular individual and thereby includes details of the taxpayer’s tax returns filed, taxes paid, refunds received, and other relevant information.
Surana said that taxpayers are advised to reconcile these documents and in case of discrepancy between details maintained by taxpayer and Form 26AS, the taxpayer can rectify such difference by requesting the deductor to file TDS/TCS correction statement. Further, in case of inaccuracy in AIS, the taxpayer can correct the same by providing feedback on the Income Tax Portal, he added.
Dividend statement, rental income and details of any other passive income including capital gains (if any)
Taxpayers receiving dividend income and/or rental income should keep their demat account summary or dividend statement, rental income details and details of any other income (including capital gains, if any) handy while filing their income tax returns, he suggested, adding that although such documents are not required to be submitted to the Income-tax department, such documents should be preserved for future references.
Taxpayers claiming tax benefits on interest on home loans, etc. would be required to maintain interest certificates pertaining to the same.