Income Tax dept revises Form 16: Here's all you need to know

The amended form will come into effect from May 12, 2019. This means the income tax returns for financial year 2018-19 will have to be filed on the basis of revised Form 16.

The Income Tax department has revised Form 16 by adding various details, including income from house property and remuneration received from other employers, thereby making it more comprehensive to help check tax avoidance.

The amended form will come into effect from May 12, 2019. This means the income tax returns for financial year 2018-19 will have to be filed on the basis of revised Form 16. Form 16 is a certificate issued by employers, giving details of employees' TDS (tax deducted at source) usually by mid June and is used in filing I-T returns.

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Here's the revised Form 16

form 16, income tax Click on image to see the revised Form 16

The move is aimed at stricter scrutiny of claims made by assessees to check tax avoidance or evasion.

The Income-tax Act, 1961 requires every employer to issue a certificate giving details of salary along with the tax deducted at source (TDS) of each its employee in Form 16.

It will also include segregated information regarding deductions under various tax saving schemes, investments in tax savings instruments, different allowances received by the employee as well as income from other sources.

Among other things, the revised Form 16 will also include details of deductions in respect of interest on deposits in savings account, and rebates and surcharge, wherever applicable.

The I-T department has already notified income tax return forms for fiscal 2018-19. Salaried class and those who do not have to get their accounts audited, will have to file their ITRs by July 31 this year.

Meanwhile, the income tax department has also modified Form 24Q, which is furnished by employer to the tax department. It will include additional details like Permanent Account Number (PAN) of non-institutional entities from whom the employee has taken loan for buying or constructing housing property.

Nangia Advisors (Andersen Global) Director Sanjoli Maheshwari told news agency IANS that the Form 16 and Form 24Q have been amended with an intent to make them more informative. The same has been done in order to bring the Forms in parity with latest changes made in ITR Forms such as disclosure of standard deduction and exemptions claimed under section 10.

"Earlier, where the disclosure of various deductions were mentioned in a consolidated manner, ranging from 80C, 80CCD, 80E, 80G would now be required to be disclosed separately. These specific disclosures would provide ease to the tax authorities in understanding the various components of income of the taxpayer and thereby, facilitating the conduct of scrutiny more precisely," Maheshwari said.

New ITR forms decoded: Know the changes and how to file returns with ease

Aadhaar and PAN must be linked for those who are eligible for an aadhaar.

Business Standard : The new Income Tax Return (ITR) forms were notified recently. As per the new forms, the taxpayer will have to provide additional details such as days of residency in India, holdings in unlisted shares and details of the buyer(s) of property in case of capital gains earned by a seller on the sale of immovable property.

Changes in ITR-1 form

ITR-1 form is applicable to resident individuals, except for the director of a company or the holders of unlisted equity shares. Total income must not exceed Rs 50 lakh. An additional row has been provided for claiming a standard deduction of Rs 40,000 for FY 2018-19.

The taxpayer is also required to furnish income-wise details, like interest income from savings account, bank deposits, income tax refund, family pension income and others, under ‘Income from other sources’ column of new ITR-1. If there are allowances, exempted from tax partially or fully, then their amount should be mentioned separately in ITR-1.

Changes in ITR-2 form

Individuals and Hindu Undivided Families (HUFs) who do not have income from profits and gains from business or profession can file their returns with ITR-2 form.

As per the newly notified ITR-2 form, taxpayers will be required to specify their residential status of the FY 2018-19. An individual can be considered as a resident, ordinary resident or non-resident in the financial year for income tax purposes. Detailed information regarding days present in India must be provided to satisfy residential status.

Additionally, in the column for 80G the amount must be segregated into cash and other modes of contribution.

Changes in ITR-4 form

Taxpayers with a cumulative income of up to Rs 50 lakh and those who are Resident, or Ordinarily resident of India can file ITR-4 form. Directors or those who held unlisted equity shares at any time during the financial year 2018-19 can no longer file returns with ITR-4 form; they have to file ITR 3 form.

The taxpayers having a business of plying, hiring and leasing goods carriages and have opted for presumptive taxation scheme (Section 44AE) will now have to provide details, such as registration no. of goods carriage, whether owned/leased/hired, tonnage capacity of goods carriage (in MT) etc.in new ITR-4.