Changes in new Income Tax Returns

New Income Tax Return [ITR] Forms have been notified for AY 2020-21 and as always there are some amendments. Here they are:

INVESTMENT DETAILS: Now this is a temporary amendment. The government had allowed making investments between April 1, 2020 to June 30, 2020 to benefit from Chapter VI deductions. If you are one of those who made us of this investment window, you have to mention such deductions separately so you can’t claim them again in next year’s ITR. If you haven’t made use of this opportunity, there’s still time.

JOINT-OWNERSHIP OF HOUSE PROPERTY: If you are an individual taxpayer and a joint owner of one (or more) houses, you and the other joint-owner cannot file ITR 1 or ITR 4 but only ITR 2 or 3 depending on their applicability to you.

FOREIGN TRAVEL: Be prepared to disclose the total amount spent on travel outside India if it is more than Rs. 2 lakhs.

PASSPORT: Do you hold a passport? You are now mandated to disclose the passport number. However, so far its only for ITRs 1 and 4 only.

ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION: If the electricity bill is more than Rs. 1 lakh, that too has to be declared.

CASH DEPOSIT: This may not be very common. If you somehow manage to get hold of Rs. 1 crore in cash and deposit it in your bank account, it needs to be disclosed if you are filing ITR 4. It’s a surprise there was no such provision earlier.

PRESUMPTIVE TAX MADE COMPLICATED: Separate columns for cash and bank have been added to the presumptive taxation form wherein the exact amount of dealings in cash and bank have to be provided. Given that books of accounts were not necessary for opting for presumptive taxation provisions, this new change makes things a lot more complicated.

Let it not be forgotten that the last date for filing ITRs is November 30, 2020 – a good 6 months away !