The government has made many changes in Income Tax Returns and reporting of various details are made compulsory since last two years. Also the government wants to link all the details such as bank account, Aadhar details, property and investment details relating to assessee with the return of income. Linking of PAN and Aadhar, Pre validation of bank accounts on e-Filing Portal for refund etc. is made mandatory from last Assessment Year. Now let us discuss the various changes in ITR and various details which are being asked by the Income Tax Department while filing the return of income since A.Y. 2019-20.
(A) From A.Y. 2019-20, if the assessee is having income from LTCG, then the assessee is required to report scrip wise additional details such as Name of Company, FMV of Shares / MF as on 31.01.2018, ISIN code etc. in Schedule CG. Also, if LTCG arise on account of sale of immoveable property, then details such as Name, Address, PAN and % of sharing etc. is mandatorily required to be reported.
(B) From A.Y. 2019-20, in the Income Tax Return the assessee is required to provide the various details like Name- PAN – Type of the company, listed or unlisted, DIN etc. of the company / companies in which the assessee was / were directors at any time during the previous year. Therefore, the assessee is required to provide all the details of his / her directorship in listed as well as unlisted company at the time of filing return of income.
(C) From A.Y. 2019-20, at the time of filing return of income, the assessee is required to provide Name and PAN of the firm / firms in which he / she was / were partner at any time during the previous year.
(D) Form A.Y. 2019-20, the assessee is required to report regarding shares of the unlisted company held at any time during the previous year. Details such as Name of company, PAN, Shares held at the beginning of the year, Cost of acquisition, Shares acquired during the year and its price, Shares Transferred and Sale consideration etc. are required to be reported at the time of filing return of income. This proves to be the very burdensome for the assessee.
(E) From A.Y. 2019-20, the assessee is required to report various details of Foreign Depository Accounts held (including any beneficial interest) at any time during the relevant accounting period.
(F) Up to A.Y. 2019-20, only the person whose income exceeds the basic exemption limit was required to file his / her income tax return. But the FM has inserted seventh proviso to section 139(1) vide the Finance (No. 2) Act, 2019 and as per this proviso “if the income of any person is below maximum amount which is not chargeable to tax but falls under any of the criteria (as mentioned below), is required to furnish his / her return of income”.
(1) Has deposited an amount or aggregate of the amounts exceeding one crore rupees in one or more current accounts maintained with a banking company or a co-operative bank; or
(2) Has incurred expenditure of an amount or aggregate of the amounts exceeding two lakhs rupees for himself or any other person for travel to a foreign country; or
(3) Has incurred expenditure of an amount or aggregate of the amounts exceeding one lakhs rupees towards consumption of electricity.
In view of the above, we can say that at the time of preparing books of accounts, the assessee is required to verify and analyze these additional details.
(G) From A.Y. 2020-21, if the assessee is having income from House Property (Rent Income), then he / she is required to compulsorily provide PAN / Aadhar No. of the Tenant.
(H) From A.Y. 2020-21, a person who is required to file ITR – 7, then required to report additional details such as name, nature of activity, classification, approval from Income Tax Department or any other department of any project or institution run by the assessee at any time during the previous year.
(I) From A.Y. 2020-21, If the person is filing return of income in response to the Notice issued by the Department, then UDIN Number is required to be quoted in the respective field.
As the adage two sides to a coin, the increasing number of required details while filling of return of income is both a boon and curse as it makes the process of return filing more accurate and precise along with making it a little tedious and mundane. This leads to increased maintenance of data at the central level thereby making economy transparent and it also helps in the nation building.
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