New Delhi, May 15 (IANS): The Income Tax Department on Friday officially commenced the ITR filing process for the financial year 2025-26 (assessment year 2026-27) with the release of Excel utilities for ITR-1 and ITR-4 forms on the e-filing portal, enabling taxpayers to access both offline and online filing options for the two forms. ITR-1, known as Sahaj, is meant for resident individuals with an annual income of up to Rs 50 lakh, while ITR-4, known as Sugam, is applicable to resident individuals, Hindu Undivided Families, and firms other than LLPs with annual income up to Rs 50 lakh. Taxpayers can now fill out the forms offline, generate a JSON file, and upload it to the Income Tax Department’s e-filing website after completing verification, with non-audit taxpayers generally required to file their returns by July 31. At present, seven different ITR forms are available depending on the nature of income and taxpayer category.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes had earlier notified the ITR forms for AY 2026-27 with revised disclosure norms, including additional reporting requirements related to long-term capital gains, losses from share buybacks, and certain trading transactions. The commencement of the filing season comes on the back of steady growth in India’s direct tax collections, with net direct tax collections rising 5.12 per cent year-on-year to Rs 23,40,406 crore in the financial year 2025-26, according to CBDT data. The department announced the update on social media platform X, urging taxpayers to take advantage of the newly available filing options at the earliest to avoid last-minute rushes ahead of the July 31 deadline.