Income Tax Return Filing (All ITR Forms, Individuals to Companies)

The correct form depends on your legal status (individual, HUF, company, LLP, trust) and the types of income you have. Individuals with only salary, one house property, and interest income under ₹50 lakh use ITR-1. Add capital gains or foreign assets — use ITR-2. Add any business or professional income — use ITR-3. Opt for presumptive taxation under Section 44AD/44ADA — use ITR-4. Firms and LLPs use ITR-5. All companies (except charitable/religious entities) must file ITR-6. Charitable trusts, political parties, research institutions use ITR-7. PNPC determines your correct form before any preparation begins.

There is no universal answer. The new regime (Section 115BAC) has lower slab rates but disallows most deductions — HRA, home loan interest, LIC/PF/NSC under 80C, mediclaim under 80D, and others. The old regime retains all deductions but has higher slab rates. The new regime typically benefits taxpayers with few deductions — fresh graduates, young salaried employees with minimal investments. The old regime typically saves more for those with home loans, high HRA, significant 80C investments, mediclaim premiums for family, and NPS contributions. PNPC computes both and presents the difference in writing.

The Annual Information Statement (AIS), accessible on the IT portal, consolidates information received by the Income Tax Department from third parties — employers (Form 16), banks (interest paid, FDs opened), stockbrokers (securities transactions), mutual funds (purchase and redemption), registrars (property transactions), GST returns, and others. The department uses this data in automated processing. If your return does not account for an income visible in AIS — even if you believe it is exempt or a reporting error — it triggers a mismatch notice. PNPC downloads and reviews your AIS before preparing your return, and reconciles every line item.

Due dates for AY 2025-26: 31 July for individuals, HUFs, and non-audit cases; 31 October for cases requiring tax audit (turnover above ₹1 crore for business, ₹50 lakh for professionals under the threshold), companies (ITR-6), and partners of firms subject to audit; 30 November for cases involving international transfer pricing. If you miss the original deadline, a belated return can be filed up to 31 December of the assessment year. Late filing fee under Section 234F: ₹1,000 if total income does not exceed ₹5 lakh; ₹5,000 otherwise. Additional interest under Section 234A on unpaid tax at 1% per month. Critically: if you file a belated return, you cannot carry forward capital losses or business losses to future years.

Listed equity shares and equity mutual funds (65%+ equity) held for more than 12 months generate Long Term Capital Gains (LTCG) — taxed at 12.5% under Section 112A without indexation, with the first ₹1.25 lakh per year exempt. If held for 12 months or less: Short Term Capital Gains (STCG) taxed at 20% under Section 111A. Debt mutual funds (purchased after 1 April 2023) are taxed as short-term capital gains at your applicable slab rate regardless of holding period — indexation benefit removed from FY 2023-24 for new debt fund investments. Property sales: LTCG after 24 months indexed at 12.5% without indexation (changed from 1 April 2024); STCG at slab rates. Grandfathering applies to equity gains for assets held before 31 January 2018 — acquisition cost is the higher of actual cost or fair market value on 31 Jan 2018.

Yes. Under Section 139(5), a revised return can be filed at any time before the end of the relevant assessment year or before the assessment is completed, whichever is earlier. For returns filed for AY 2025-26, the revision deadline is 31 December 2025. There is no limit on the number of revisions within this window. However, a belated return (filed after the original due date) can also be revised. Revisions can increase or decrease income — both are permitted. You cannot revise an already-assessed return; in that case, a rectification under Section 154 is needed.

Several reasons: the employer deposited TDS against your PAN late or in the wrong quarter — so it does not appear in Form 26AS on the filing date; the employer claimed an incorrect PAN in the TDS return, mismatching the credit; you have income from other sources (interest, freelance, capital gains) not covered by the employer's TDS; or the advance tax on such other income was inadequate. The Section 143(1) intimation from CPC applies the department's view of available credit and flags any mismatch. PNPC cross-checks 26AS and AIS before filing, identifies credit gaps, and resolves them — either with the employer or by making the required payment.

An NRI must file an Indian ITR if their Indian-sourced income — rent from Indian property, capital gains from Indian shares or mutual funds, interest from Indian bank accounts, professional fees from Indian clients — exceeds the basic exemption limit. For NRIs, the applicable limit under the old regime is ₹2.5 lakh; new regime default applies unless opted out. NRIs cannot use ITR-1 — they must use ITR-2 or higher. NRIs may claim DTAA benefits on specific income types — for example, interest from NRO accounts may be taxed at a lower DTAA rate. TDS is typically deducted at higher rates on NRI income; filing enables refund of excess TDS.

Section 234F imposes a mandatory fee for filing a belated return (after the original due date but before 31 December of the assessment year). The fee is ₹1,000 if total income does not exceed ₹5 lakh. For total income above ₹5 lakh, the fee is ₹5,000. This fee is payable regardless of whether tax is due or whether the return shows a refund. It is not a penalty — it is a fee that appears directly in the ITR form and must be paid before filing. Note: if total income is below the basic exemption limit, no fee applies even if filing is belated.

Section 148 (or the new Section 148A as amended in 2021) is a reassessment notice issued when the assessing officer has reason to believe that income has escaped assessment in a prior year. The department must first issue a show-cause notice under 148A(b) giving you an opportunity to respond, then pass an order under 148A(d) determining whether reassessment is warranted, before issuing the 148 notice. Time limits for reassessment: 3 years from end of the relevant assessment year (up to income escaped ₹50 lakh); 10 years in cases where escaped income exceeds ₹50 lakh with prior PCIT/CCIT approval. This is not a routine compliance issue — respond through a qualified CA immediately.

ITR filing is mandatory for any taxpayer whose income exceeds the basic exemption limit. Tax audit under Section 44AB is an additional requirement for: business taxpayers whose total sales/turnover/gross receipts exceed ₹1 crore (₹10 crore if cash transactions are below 5% of total); professionals whose gross receipts exceed ₹50 lakh. Tax audit results in a report (Form 3CA/3CB and 3CD) issued by a Chartered Accountant, which must be uploaded on the IT portal before the ITR is filed. The ITR for an audit case is due by 31 October; the audit report itself should be ready and uploaded before the ITR due date.

Section 54 exempts LTCG on sale of a residential house property if the net consideration is reinvested in purchasing a new residential property (within 1 year before or 2 years after sale) or constructing one (within 3 years). The exemption is limited to ₹10 crore of LTCG. If reinvestment is not completed before the ITR due date, the amount must be deposited in a Capital Gains Account Scheme (CGAS) with a scheduled bank before filing. Section 54F exempts LTCG from any long-term capital asset (other than residential property) if the entire net consideration — not just the gain — is invested in a new residential property. Both require you to own only one other residential property at the time of sale.

Schedule FA (Foreign Assets) in the ITR is mandatory for resident individuals and HUFs who are tax residents of India ('Resident and Ordinarily Resident') and who, at any time during the previous year, held any of the following: foreign bank accounts, financial interests in entities outside India, immovable property outside India, accounts held as trustee/beneficiary/settlor of a foreign trust, any other foreign capital asset. This disclosure is mandatory under the Black Money Act 2015 — failure to disclose is a criminal offence with penalty of ₹10 lakh per default, regardless of tax liability. NRIs (Non-Residents) are not required to file Schedule FA.

Belated returns for a given assessment year can be filed only up to 31 December of that assessment year. You cannot file a belated return for an earlier year on your own initiative after that. However, if the assessing officer issues a notice under Section 142(1) requiring you to file, you must file even for an old year. In some cases, the CBDT issues condonation-of-delay circulars allowing late filings for specific categories. For years where the normal belated-filing window has passed, the only way to get your tax records in order is through a formal application for condonation of delay to the Commissioner of Income Tax. PNPC handles these cases.

Online ITR portals are data-entry services — you upload documents, the system populates fields, someone presses submit. They do not review your AIS for discrepancies. They do not compute regime comparison. They do not identify missed deductions. They do not correct capital gains errors. They do not advise on Section 54 exemption before the filing deadline. And when a notice arrives — as it increasingly does under the faceless assessment regime — a portal has nothing to offer. PNPC charges a professional fee because a practising CA reviews your return, identifies tax savings, and stands behind it. The tax saved or the notice avoided in one year routinely exceeds the PNPC fee for several years.