New Delhi | The Income Tax department has notified all income tax return forms for the assessment year (AY) 2026-27.
While ITR forms 1-4, filed by small and medium taxpayers, were notified on March 30, ITR forms 2, 3, 5, 6 and 7, as well as ITR-U (for filing updated returns), were notified on Tuesday.
With the ITR (income tax return) notification, individuals, businesses and other entities can start filing I-T returns for the income earned in the financial year 2025-26.
The last date of filing ITR for individuals and those who do not have to get their accounts audited is July 31.
AKM Global Partner-Tax Sandeep Sehgal said ITR-1 appears to have widened its scope for AY 2026-27 by permitting certain taxpayers to report income from up to two house properties. Earlier, the form was generally understood to be restricted to income from one house property only, often requiring taxpayers with a second house property to migrate to ITR-2 or ITR-3.
"By doing this, it could help taxpayers to reduce the compliance burden in such cases wherein they were required to disclose the income of two house properties in ITR 2 or ITR 3," Sehgal said.
He said taxpayers will continue with the familiar assessment year-based return structure for AY 2026-27, which should help contain interpretational issues and reduce compliance friction during the current filing window.
Deloitte India Partner Sumit Singhania said the income reporting structure and number of forms have been kept unchanged.
He said these forms will be filed under the Income Tax Act, 1961, and therefore, broader alignment is with the existing set of disclosure requirements, including reference to 'assessment year'.
The Income Tax department has already said its e-filing portal will facilitate compliance under both the old and new Income Tax Acts in the transition period, and all assessments, appeals, and other proceedings relating to earlier years will continue to be conducted under the old Act until their final resolution.
Taxpayers filing returns for AY 2026-27 (pertaining to the period governed by the old Act) in July 2026 will do so using the forms prescribed under the old Act.
ITR Form 1 (Sahaj) and ITR Form 4 (Sugam) are simpler forms that cater to a large number of small and medium taxpayers.
Sahaj can be filed by a resident individual having annual income up to Rs 50 lakh, and who receives income from salary, one house property, other sources (interest) and agricultural income up to Rs 5,000 a year.
Sugam can be filed by individuals, Hindu Undivided Families (HUFs) and firms (other than Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs)), having a total annual income up to Rs 50 lakh and income from business and profession.
ITR-2 is filed by individuals and HUFs who do not have income from profits and gains in business or profession, but have income from capital gains.
ITR-3 is for individuals and HUFs earning income from a proprietary business or profession.
ITR-5 is filed by firms, limited liability partnerships, and cooperative societies. ITR-6 is filed by companies registered under the Companies Act.
ITR-7 is filed by trusts and charitable institutions.
