Important Things to Keep in Mind while Filing your ITR for FY 2018-19

Following are some of the precautions which should be keep in mind while filing ITR by taxpayers:

1. File return in correct ITR form:

Choosing the right ITR form is the first and most important step in filing of ITR. If you have furnished ITR in wrong ITR form, then it is likely that you will not report the complete information in ITR. In this case, the tax dept. can issue a tax notice for under reporting of the income.

2. Disclosing side income:

Taxpayer generally believes that his petty incomes aren’t taxable and are not required to be reported in ITR. It is important to note that dept. gets regular information from banks and financial institutions about your financial transactions which are reconciled with information provided in ITR. Any discrepancy might invite Income-tax notice.  If certain tax has been deducted from income but taxpayer doesn’t report the corresponding income in ITR, he might get a notice.

3. Clubbing of income:

There might be possibility that a taxpayer is employed by more than one employer during a year. In such a case, he has to provide the details of income earned from all the employers. Further, if the taxpayer is liable to pay tax in respect of income of any other person, i.e., in case of clubbing of income, he has to report such income in his ITR.

4. Deductions should be availed accurately:

There are some little known expenses that are allowable as deductions under Sections 80C to 80U, i.e., Deduction for stamp duty value, deduction for interest earned from saving bank deposit, deduction for house rent, deduction for medical expenditures, etc. Thus a taxpayer should consider all the expenses or investments which he has incurred or made during the year while furnishing ITR.

5. Do not make a false claim:

A salaried class person can claim all eligible deductions even if employer has not provided those in the form 16 issued to employee. For Assessment year 2019-20 onwards, the CBDT has revised the form for filing of TDS return and made the generation of form 16 Part-B electronically. Moreover, the details furnished by the employer will be auto-populated in the ITR. Thus, taxpayers are advised not to claim any deduction over and above that provided in Form 16, unless and until he has the supporting documents to substantiate the claim. Recently, the income-tax department has also warned salaried taxpayers against under-reporting income or inflating deductions/exemptions while filing income-tax returns.

6. Reconciliation of Form no. 26AS with ITR:

It is important to ensure that ITR is in sync with Form 26AS. In case of any discrepancy, the Dept. issues notice to seek explanation for such discrepancies in the figures of income or TDS appearing in Form no. 26AS and ITR.

7. Disclosure of bank account details:

While furnishing return of income a taxpayer is required to furnish the details of all savings and current accounts held by him during the year. Failure to furnish such details may result in issue of a notice from department.

8. Verification of ITR:

A taxpayer gets options to e-verify the ITR through various modes at the time of filing of return. The various modes include e-verification through digital signature, through Aadhaar OTP, etc. Taxpayer also has an option to send signed copy of ITR acknowledgement to CPC Bangalore in case he doesn’t want to e-verify return. Verification of ITR is necessary as Income-tax dept. processes the ITR and issues income-tax refund (if any) claimed by the taxpayer only if the ITR is verified.   

Also Read:

• Taxability of Scholarship under Income-tax Act

• ITR Forms for NRIs

• 5 major changes in ITR forms 2019-20 for Individuals