e-Filing of Income Tax Returns or Forms is mandatory for:
- Any assessee having total income of Rs 5 Lakhs,
- Individual/ HUF, being resident, having assets located outside India,
- A resident individual who has the signing authority for any account located outside India,
- A person who claims relief under sections 90 or 90A or deduction under section 91
Like every year, you must be preparing to file your income tax return (ITR). Here are a few important documents to keep handy to ensure a hassle free experience and save some precious time:
Form16(s) from all the employers:
Form16 is the most basic source of information about the income earned and the tax deducted from your salary during the year. In case you have worked for more than one employer during the last financial year 2015-16 then you must collect your Form16 from all of them.
Form 16A:
This form is also called a TDS certificate and is issued by banks for interest income, capital gains of NRIs, etc. If you have rental income and your landlord has deducted TDS on rent then you should collect Form16A from the landlord too. Similarly, if you have any commission or professional income, TDS certificate for the same should also be collected.
Form26AS:
Your income from all the sources, tax deductions and any high value transaction(s) are being reported in this form. Income Tax Department (ITD) has started sending notices if the ITR filed by the taxpayer does not match with the information available in Form26AS. You should get your Form26AS and match details with your ITR before filing it. If there is some mismatch, you should fix those errors and then file your return. You can download Form26AS from your net banking account, directly from ITD website or ask your e-Return Intermediary (e.g., TaxSpanner) to download it for you.
Bank Statements from all bank accounts:
Verify that all the bank transactions carried out during the financial year with respect to income earned, investments made, expenses etc. have been declared in the appropriate sections of your return. There are a number of transactions that you may miss declaring in your ITR if you don’t check your bank account statements:
- You may have received gift from somebody other than a relative during the FY. It needs to be declared as income if the amount exceeds Rs. 50,000 in total.
- Check for any dividend income for declaring it as exempt income.
- For any property purchased or sold during the year, you are required to declare a lot of details in the return. If the property bought is on loan, do keep a copy of all the home loan related documents with you. If you sold your property then it is necessary to know the purchase date/amount as well as sale date/amount for computation of capital gain tax. Therefore, have all the purchase /sale related documents handy with you while preparing your ITR.
In case of any doubt while filing the return it is best to take the help from tax experts.
Home/Education loan Interest Certificates:
If you have taken any home/education loan then collect their interest certificate to claim the right deduction.
Investment Proofs not submitted to employer:
It is possible that some of the investments made by you during the financial year have not been included in the Form16 issued to you. For example, if you invested in tax-saving tools such as life insurance, Public Provident Fund after proof submission deadline set by your employer, proofs of these investments would not have been submitted to your employer. For such investments, you need to have the proofs for reference while preparing your return.
Share/mutual fund Transaction Statements:
These are required to enter details like sale date, purchase date, quantity and amount for computing capital gains/loss.
Tax payment Challan(s):
If you have paid advance tax and/or self assessment tax then you need to enter the details of the same in the return for accurate computation of tax liability.
Don’t wait anymore, start return filing for this year now!
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