Functionalities to file commonly used ITRs enabled by CBDT on 1st April, 2024

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has facilitated taxpayers to file their Income Tax Returns (ITRs) for the Assessment Year 2024-25 (relevant to Financial Year 2023-24) from 1^st April, 2024 onwards. The ITR functionalities i.e. ITR-1, ITR-2 and ITR-4, commonly used by taxpayers are available on the e-filing portal from 1^st April, 2024 onwards for taxpayers to file their Returns. Companies will also be able to file their ITRs through ITR-6 from April 1 onwards.

As a precursor to this, CBDT had notified the ITR forms early, beginning with ITRs 1 and 4 which were notified on December 22^nd, 2023, ITR-6 was notified on 24^th January, 2024 and ITR-2 was notified on January 31^st, 2024.

To facilitate the e-Return Intermediaries (ERI), the JSON Schema for ITR-1, ITR-2, ITR-4 and ITR-6 and Schema of Tax Audit Reports have also been made available for A.Y. 2024-25. The same can be accessed under downloads section of the e-filing portal.

Thus, taxpayers have been enabled to file ITR-1, ITR-2, ITR-4 and ITR-6 for A.Y. 2024-2025 on the e-filing portal from 01.04.2024. In fact, about 23,000 ITRs for A.Y. 2024-25 have already been filed till date. Facility to file ITRs 3, 5 and 7 will be made available shortly.

This is for the first time in recent times, that the Income Tax department has enabled taxpayers to file their Returns on the first day of the new financial year. This is another giant step towards ease of compliance and seamless taxpayer services.