How to File ITR (FY 2026-27)

1. What an Income Tax Return actually is

An Income Tax Return (ITR) is a self-declaration to the Income Tax Department of the income you earned in a financial year, the tax you computed on it, the tax already paid (through TDS, advance tax or self-assessment), and the resulting refund due to you or balance payable. The return is filed under Section 139 of the Income Tax Act, 1961.

Who must file

• Every individual whose gross total income (before Chapter VI-A deductions) exceeds the basic exemption — ₹4 lakh under the new regime or ₹2.5 lakh under the old regime.
• Companies, firms, LLPs and most other entities — regardless of income or loss.
• Residents holding any foreign asset or signing authority on a foreign account.
• Anyone who deposited ₹1 crore+ in a current account, ₹50 lakh+ in a savings account, paid an electricity bill above ₹1 lakh in the year, spent ₹2 lakh+ on foreign travel, or had TDS / TCS aggregating ₹25,000 or more (₹50,000 for senior citizens).
• Anyone claiming a refund of excess TDS / advance tax.

For the bigger picture on how income tax works in India — slabs, deductions, regime choice — see our companion Income Tax guide.

2. Choosing the right ITR form — which one applies to me?

The Income Tax Department issues seven different ITR forms. Picking the wrong one is the most common cause of a defective-return notice under Section 139(9).

If you have salary + share trading + rental, you are firmly in ITR-2 territory. The moment you add business or professional income — even part-time freelancing — you move to ITR-3 (or ITR-4 if eligible for presumptive).

3. Documents you'll need before filing

Pull these together before opening the portal:

• PAN and Aadhaar — must be linked. Without a valid linkage, your PAN is inoperative and the return cannot be filed.
• Form 16 — TDS certificate from your employer. Part A (TDS deducted) and Part B (salary break-up with allowances and deductions).
• Form 16A — TDS on income other than salary (FD interest, professional fees, rent). Issued by the deductor.
• Form 16B / 16C / 16D / 16E — TDS certificates for property sale, rent, contractual / professional payments and VDA transactions respectively.
• Form 26AS — annual tax credit statement pulled from the income-tax portal.
• AIS and TIS — Annual Information Statement and Taxpayer Information Summary on the compliance portal.
• Bank statements — for all accounts you held during the FY; interest credited goes under other-sources head.
• Capital gains statements — broker P&L, mutual-fund redemption statement, property sale deed and indexed cost workings.
• Rental agreements and rent receipts if declaring house-property income.
• Investment proofs for Chapter VI-A deductions — LIC premium, ELSS, PPF, NPS, mediclaim, education loan interest, home loan interest (Section 24).
• Foreign-asset and remittance details if you held overseas bank accounts, shares, ESOPs or property at any point in the FY.

4. The pre-filing checklist

Twenty minutes spent reconciling now saves you from a defective-return notice three months later.

1. Confirm PAN-Aadhaar linkage. Visit the income-tax portal → Profile → check status. Inoperative PAN blocks the return.
2. Pull Form 26AS and confirm every TDS line matches the TDS certificates you hold. If 26AS is short, chase the deductor to file or correct their TDS return — don't claim what isn't in 26AS.
3. Open AIS and TIS and walk through each section. If AIS shows a transaction that isn't yours — submit feedback as "Information is not fully correct" with a reason.
4. Reconcile bank interest against AIS — banks report Section 285BA SFT data. Don't under-report.
5. Compute capital gains with grandfathering for equity bought before 31 January 2018, indexed cost for property and debt MFs (pre-April 2023), and the new 12.5% LTCG rate for transfers from 23 July 2024.
6. Tally Chapter VI-A deductions against proofs in hand. Under the new regime, most deductions are not available — only NPS 80CCD(2) employer contribution, standard deduction, and a few others.
7. Choose regime (old vs new) and, if needed, file Form 10-IEA before the due date for business / professional income.
8. Pre-validate your bank account for refund credit — Profile → My Bank Account.

5. Old vs new regime — which should I choose for my ITR?

From FY 2023-24 onwards, the new regime under Section 115BAC is the default. The old regime is still available — but you must consciously opt in.

• New regime: lower slab rates, ₹75,000 standard deduction, Section 87A rebate (up to ₹60,000) makes income up to ₹12 lakh effectively tax-free (₹12.75 lakh for salaried after the standard deduction). Most Chapter VI-A deductions (80C, 80D, HRA, LTA) are not available.
• Old regime: higher slabs but the full menu of 80C (₹1.5 lakh), 80D (mediclaim), 80E (education loan), HRA exemption, LTA, home loan interest (Section 24, up to ₹2 lakh self-occupied) and so on.
• Salaried taxpayers can switch year to year. Business / professional taxpayers can switch from old to new freely, but once they re-enter old after exiting new, they can switch back to new only once in a lifetime.

Run both scenarios on a calculator before filing. The break point depends on your deduction profile — at high deduction (housing loan + 80C + 80D + HRA fully utilised) the old regime usually wins; at low deduction the new regime is cleaner. See our Income Tax guide for the full slab-by-slab break-even analysis.

6. ITR-1 (Sahaj) walkthrough

ITR-1 is the simplest form. Three pages of data entry, pre-filled from your employer's TDS return and the bank SFT.

Eligibility — all must be true

• Resident (not RNOR), not NRI
• Total income up to ₹50 lakh
• Income from salary, one house property (self-occupied or let-out), other sources (interest, FD)
• Agricultural income up to ₹5,000
• Not a director in any company; no unlisted equity shares
• No capital gains, no foreign asset, no carried-forward loss

Schedules you'll fill

• Personal information — PAN, Aadhaar, address, contact, bank account
• Salary — gross salary, exempt allowances (HRA, LTA), Section 16 standard deduction and professional tax, taxable salary
• House property — annual value, municipal tax, 30% standard deduction, interest on borrowed capital (up to ₹2 lakh self-occupied, full for let-out)
• Income from other sources — interest from savings, FD, post office, family pension
• Chapter VI-A deductions — 80C, 80D, 80E, 80G, 80TTA / 80TTB (old regime only, mostly)
• Tax computation — auto-calculated, with rebate under 87A
• Tax paid — TDS, advance tax, self-assessment

7. ITR-2 walkthrough — for capital gains and multiple properties

ITR-2 covers everything ITR-1 does, plus the schedules ITR-1 can't handle. Use this if you have any of the following:

• Capital gains — from shares, mutual funds, property, gold, bonds, crypto
• More than one house property
• Foreign income or foreign asset
• Director in a company, or holder of unlisted shares
• Agricultural income above ₹5,000
• Total income above ₹50 lakh (with surcharge)
• NRI / RNOR status

Additional schedules

• Schedule CG — Capital Gains. Split into STCG, LTCG, and within each by asset class (equity vs other). Apply grandfathering for pre-Feb 2018 equity. The new 12.5% LTCG rate applies to transfers on or after 23 July 2024.
• Schedule HP — House Property. One block per property, with let-out / self-occupied / deemed let-out classification. Section 24 interest, 30% standard deduction.
• Schedule FA — Foreign Assets. Mandatory for residents holding any foreign asset or signing authority. Non-disclosure attracts ₹10 lakh penalty per year plus Black Money Act consequences.
• Schedule AL — Assets and Liabilities at cost. Mandatory if total income exceeds ₹50 lakh.
• Schedule CFL — Carry-forward of losses across years. Track each year separately — losses lapse on a strict eight-year clock (four years for speculation, no expiry for unabsorbed depreciation).

8. ITR-3 / ITR-4 walkthrough — business and presumptive

ITR-3 — regular business / profession

Use ITR-3 when you maintain regular books of account under Section 44AA. You file a full Balance Sheet and Profit & Loss statement, the tax-audit report under Section 44AB if applicable, and depreciation schedules.

• Tax audit threshold: business turnover above ₹1 crore (₹10 crore if cash receipts and payments are each under 5%); profession gross receipts above ₹50 lakh.
• Audit report (Form 3CA / 3CB + 3CD): uploaded by the CA on the income-tax portal by 30 September of the AY; ITR-3 due by 31 October.
• Schedules include Balance Sheet, P&L, Manufacturing / Trading account, Depreciation (Section 32), Quantitative details (turnover-based), GST turnover reconciliation.

ITR-4 (Sugam) — presumptive income

Available to resident individuals, HUFs and firms (not LLPs) declaring under Section 44AD, 44ADA or 44AE — provided total income is up to ₹50 lakh.

• 44AD (business): presumed profit at 8% of turnover (6% for digital receipts). Eligible if turnover up to ₹2 crore (₹3 crore if cash receipts under 5%). Five-year lock-in — once you opt out, can't re-enter for 5 years.
• 44ADA (specified profession): presumed profit at 50% of gross receipts. Eligible if receipts up to ₹50 lakh (₹75 lakh if cash receipts under 5%). Covers CAs, lawyers, doctors, engineers, architects, technical consultants, interior designers and IT consultants.
• 44AE (transporter): presumed profit per vehicle per month — ₹1,000 / ton of gross vehicle weight for heavy goods carriers, ₹7,500 / month for others.

9. Step-by-step e-filing on the income tax portal

1. Log in to incometax.gov.in with PAN as user ID.
2. Go to e-File → Income Tax Returns → File Income Tax Return.
3. Select AY (e.g., AY 2027-28 for FY 2026-27) and mode (online / offline JSON utility).
4. Select status — Individual / HUF / Company / Firm.
5. Pick the ITR form per §2 above.
6. Choose reason for filing — income above exemption / refund claim / other.
7. Review pre-filled data — salary, TDS, interest, capital gains, dividend. Edit any pre-fill that is wrong; add anything missing (cash income, foreign income, exempt income).
8. Fill remaining schedules — house property, capital gains, foreign assets, Chapter VI-A, AL.
9. Verify tax computation — the portal auto-computes after each save. Check refund / balance payable matches your independent calculation.
10. Pay self-assessment tax (Challan ITNS 280 via the e-pay tax service) if there is a balance.
11. Preview and submit. The portal generates an acknowledgement (ITR-V) with the transaction ID.
12. E-verify within 30 days — see §10.

For ITR-3 and ITR-4 filers, TatvaBooks keeps the working papers your return is built on ready — a clean P&L and balance sheet, the depreciation schedule, and a GST-turnover reconciliation — so your CA enters the figures on the portal from books that already agree.

10. E-verification — how do I verify my ITR (the 30-day clock)?

Filing is not complete until you e-verify. The portal gives you 30 days from the date of filing — miss the window and the return is treated as not filed. You will need to refile (and possibly face a 234F late fee if the original window has closed in the meantime).

Five methods

• Aadhaar OTP — fastest. PAN must be linked to Aadhaar; mobile linked to Aadhaar must be active.
• Net banking — log in to your bank's net banking, click "e-Verify Income Tax Return". Works with most major banks.
• EVC via pre-validated bank / demat — generate an Electronic Verification Code from a pre-validated bank account or demat account.
• Digital Signature Certificate (DSC) — mandatory for tax-audit cases and companies; optional for others.
• Send signed ITR-V to CPC — print the ITR-V, sign in blue ink, post to CPC Bengaluru by speed-post within 30 days. Slowest, but works for taxpayers without Aadhaar OTP or net banking.

11. Due dates calendar for FY 2026-27

CBDT typically extends select due dates by notification during the year — track via the income-tax portal home page rather than going from memory.

12. Belated returns under Section 139(4) — how to file after the due date?

Missed 31 July (or 31 October for audit)? You can still file a belated return under Section 139(4) — any time up to 31 December of the AY, or before completion of assessment, whichever is earlier.

The cost of being late

• Section 234F late fee: ₹5,000 if total income above ₹5 lakh; ₹1,000 if total income up to ₹5 lakh.
• Section 234A interest: 1% per month on unpaid tax from the original due date till the date of payment.
• Loss carry-forward forfeit: business loss, capital loss, speculation loss — all forfeited if return is belated. Only house-property loss can still be carried forward.
• Regime lock-out: from FY 2025-26 onwards, you cannot opt for the old regime in a belated return — the new regime applies by default.

13. Revised returns under Section 139(5) — how to correct a filed ITR?

Discovered after filing that you missed an interest income, overclaimed a deduction, or filed the wrong form? File a revised return under Section 139(5).

• Window: up to 31 December of the AY, or before completion of assessment, whichever is earlier.
• Substitutes the original: the revised return replaces the original; only the revised stays on record.
• Multiple revisions allowed within the window. Each revised return must be e-verified within 30 days.
• Both original and revised must be on time: if your original was belated, you can still revise — but you cannot revise a return that has not been filed.

A revised return resets the assessment clock; CPC processes the revised one and ignores the original.

14. Updated returns under Section 139(8A) — what is ITR-U?

Section 139(8A) — introduced in Budget 2022 and extended in Budget 2025 — lets you file an updated return for an earlier AY even after the belated / revised window has closed. The price: additional tax on top of regular tax and interest.

What ITR-U cannot do

• Cannot reduce income or increase loss
• Cannot claim or increase a refund
• Cannot be filed if a search / survey / reassessment is in progress
• Cannot be filed if a prosecution proceeding has been launched

Practically, ITR-U is a one-way door to declare additional income — useful when an old AIS entry surfaces or a Section 148 notice is anticipated. Pay before you file — the additional tax has to be cleared with the return.

15. Defective and rejected returns — Section 139(9)

CPC issues a defective-return notice under Section 139(9) when the return is internally inconsistent. You have 15 days to respond — extension is rarely granted.

Common reasons

• Wrong ITR form for the income type (capital gains in ITR-1, business income in ITR-2)
• TDS claimed in return but not appearing in 26AS
• Tax audit report (Form 3CA/3CB + 3CD) not uploaded though Section 44AB applies
• P&L / Balance Sheet schedules left blank in ITR-3
• Depreciation claimed without filling the Section 32 schedule
• Bank account for refund not pre-validated
• PAN-Aadhaar not linked at time of filing
• Mismatch between gross receipts in the return and SFT / AIS aggregate

How to respond

1. Log in → Pending Actions → Defective Return Notice.
2. Read the notice and the specific defect highlighted.
3. Click "Submit Response".
4. If you accept the defect — revise and re-upload the corrected ITR JSON.
5. If you disagree — file a response explaining why, with supporting documents.
6. E-verify the corrected return.

If you ignore the notice for 15 days, the return is treated as not filed and all the late-filing consequences kick in.

16. Refunds — how and when

If your TDS + advance tax + self-assessment tax exceeds your computed liability, you get a refund. CPC credits refunds only to pre-validated bank accounts with PAN linked.

Timeline

• Day 0: e-Verify the return.
• Day 1-7: CPC starts processing under Section 143(1).
• Day 7-45: typical refund credit window. Salaried returns with no complications often refund inside 10 days.
• Day 45+: interest under Section 244A starts accruing at 0.5% per month on delayed refunds.

Check status

Income-tax portal → Services → Refund Reissue → Refund Status. Or visit tin.tin.nsdl.com → Refund Status, enter PAN and AY.

Refund failed

Reasons: bank account closed, PAN-account name mismatch, IFSC changed, account not pre-validated. Fix in Profile → My Bank Account, then raise a refund-reissue request.

Refund adjustment under Section 245

If you have an outstanding demand from an earlier AY, CPC can adjust the current-year refund against it under Section 245 — but only after issuing a 30-day intimation. Respond to the intimation if you disagree with the demand; silence is treated as consent.

17. Frequently asked questions

18. ITR glossary

AY

Assessment Year — the year in which the previous FY's income is assessed and the return is filed.

FY

Financial Year — 1 April to 31 March, in which the income is earned.

PAN

Permanent Account Number — 10-character alphanumeric ID issued by the IT Department.

TAN

Tax Deduction Account Number — 10-character ID for entities deducting / collecting tax.

Form 16

Annual TDS certificate from employer — Part A (TDS) + Part B (salary break-up).

Form 26AS

Annual tax credit statement — TDS, TCS, advance tax, refund, high-value transactions.

AIS

Annual Information Statement — comprehensive financial-transactions report on the compliance portal.

TIS

Taxpayer Information Summary — simplified summary of AIS.

ITR-V

Acknowledgement generated after filing; needed for physical-post verification.

EVC

Electronic Verification Code — 10-digit code used for e-verification.

CPC

Centralised Processing Centre, Bengaluru — processes ITRs and issues intimations.

Section 143(1)

Intimation on processing — accepts, makes a small adjustment, or determines demand / refund.

Section 139(4)

Belated return — filed after the original due date.

Section 139(5)

Revised return — corrects an originally filed return.

Section 139(8A)

Updated return (ITR-U) — declare additional income with surcharge tax.

Section 234A/B/C

Interest for late filing, advance-tax shortfall, and instalment default.

Section 234F

Late-filing fee — ₹5,000 / ₹1,000 based on income.

Section 87A

Rebate (up to ₹60,000 under new regime for FY 2026-27) that makes income up to ₹12 lakh effectively tax-free; ₹12.75 lakh for salaried after the ₹75,000 standard deduction.

Form 10-IEA

Declaration to opt for the old regime by business / professional taxpayers.

Pre-validated bank account

Bank account verified on the income-tax portal — required to receive refund.

44AD / 44ADA / 44AE

Presumptive-income provisions — 8%/6%, 50%, and fixed-per-vehicle respectively.

Form 3CA / 3CB / 3CD

Tax-audit report — uploaded by CA before ITR-3 in audit cases.