Categories: Tax Planning

New ITR Forms AY 2017-18 (FY 2016-17) : Which ITR Form should you file?

Central Board of Direct Taxes has notified the new ITR Forms AY 2017-18 (for FY 2016-17). In order to make Income Tax Return filing easy, quite a few changes in ITR Forms have been implemented.

The new ITR forms in PDF format have been made available, while the excel utilities (or) Java Utilities for AY 2017-18 will soon be made available on incometaxindia e-filing website.

What is AY & FY?

Financial year (FY) is the year in which you have earned the income. If you are filing a return this year, the financial year will be 2016-17.

For example, if you have had an income between 1st April 2016 and 31 March 2017, then 2016-17 will be referred to as FY. Assessment Year (AY) is the year in which you file returns i.e., 2017-18. The last date to file returns for the financial year 2016-2017 is July 31st 2017 (as of now).

Income Tax Slabs & Rates for FY 2016-17 (AY 2017-18)

The below table gives you clear idea about Income tax slabs / rates for all Tax payer categories. (For general category, Senior Citizens & Very Senior Citizens).

Income Tax Returns Filing & New ITR Forms AY 2017-18 | Which ITR Form should you file?

Below are the main details about new ITR forms. You can download the ITR Forms which are in PDF format.

  • The number of ITR Forms have been reduced from the existing nine to seven forms.
  • Kindly note that it is now mandatory to quote your Aadhar number / Aadhar Enrollment ID and also disclose Cash deposits of more than Rs 2 lakh made during demonetisation period (between 9-Nov-2016 & 30-Dec-2016). (Quoting of Aadhaar number in ITR forms is not mandatory for NRIs / individuals who are not citizens of India / who are above 80 years of age / who are residing in States of Jammu & Kashmir, Meghalaya & Assam.)
  • The existing ITR Forms ITR-2, ITR-2A and ITR-3 have been rationalized and a single ITR-2 has been notified in place of these three forms.
  • The existing ITR 4 has been re-numbered as ITR 3.
  • ITR 4S (Sugam) is now ITR 4 (Sugam).
  • All ITR forms have to be filed electronically. The only exception being ; in the case of individuals of the age of 80 years or more, whose income does not exceed Rs 5 lakh and who has not claimed any refund in the return of income, have an option to file return in paper form.

New ITR 1 (Sahaj) Form For Assessment Year 2017-18 :

  • The existing multiple pages ITR 1 form has now been simplified into a single page ITR Form.
  • ITR 1 Form (Sahaj) can be filed by an individual having income of up to Rs 50 lakh from salary, one house property and interest income.
  • In this ITR form, important tax deductions like Section 80C, 80D, 80G & 80TTA have only been provided. For other tax deductions, you can just mention the section and amount details.
  • If you have LTCG of Rs 2.5 Lakh or more, It is mandatory to e-file tax returns, even if your total taxable income may be below Rs 2.5 lakh.
  • A separate provision has been provided to disclose Long Term Capital Gains (LTCG) as Exempt income under section 10 (38).
  • A separate provision has been provided to disclose Dividend income received from an Indian company as Exempt income under section 10 (34).
  • Click here to download new simplified ITR 1 Form for AY 2017-18.

New ITR 2 Form for Assessment year 2017-18 :

  •  ITR2 form can be filed by an Individual or Hindu Undivided Family (HUF). This form can be used if you have;
    •  Salary or Pension Income
    •  Income under the head ‘Capital Gains’
    •  Income from multiple houses
    •  No business / professional income under any proprietorship
    •  An asset in foreign country or income from a source outside India
    • Agricultural income of more than Rs 5,000
    • Income from lottery or horse racing
  • If your income is more than Rs 50 Lakh, ITR 2 has a Schedule AL requiring assessees to declare their assets and liabilities at the end of the fiscal.
  • Click here to download new ITR 2 Form.

New ITR 3 for AY 2017-18 Income tax filing

  • The existing ITR 4 is now re-numbered as ITR 3 form.
  • New ITR 3 form is for individuals and HUFs having income from a proprietary business or profession (or having income as a partner in a Partnership firm).
  • This ITR covers all kind of businesses and professions irrespective of any income limit. Assesse can also report his income from salary, multiple house properties, lottery winnings, capital gains, speculative income i.e. horse race in ITR3 together with the Business Income.
  • Click here to download new ITR 3 Form.

New ITR 4S (Sugam) form for AY 2017-18

  • This form can be used by individuals who have;
    • Presumptive income from Business or Profession.
    • No Capital Gains
    • Agricultural Income which is less than Rs 5k
    • No asset in foreign country or no income from a source outside India
    • Income from one house property
    • Income from other sources
  • Click here to download new ITR 4S form.

Latest Update (31-July-2017) : Income Tax Return filing deadline for AY 2017-18 has been extended till 5th August, 2017. (Source : ET)


Continue reading :

(Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net) ( (Post first published on 31-March-2017) (This post will be updated with more information after going through the latest ITR forms in detail..)

This post was last modified on July 11, 2023 6:25 pm

Sreekanth Reddy

Sreekanth is the Man behind ReLakhs.com. He is an Independent Certified Financial Planner (CFP), engaged in blogging & property consultancy for the last 14 years through his firm ReLakhs Financial Services . He is not associated with any Financial product / service provider. The main aim of his blog is to "help investors take informed financial decisions." "Please note that the views given in this Blog/Comments Section/Forum are clarifications meant for reference and guidance of the readers to explore further on the topics/queries raised and take informed decisions. The information provided, therefore, should not be viewed as financial, legal, accounting, tax or investment advice."

View Comments

  • I purchase equity mutual fund rupees 36000/- year 2009. Sell 90000/- , year 2016 December. Is capital gain 54000/- and is it show 10(38) in itr 1 ?

  • Dear Sreekanth,
    I was impressed with your knowledge and the way you guide people. Please tell me about Schedule AL in ITR-2 FY 15-16. Are we supposed to reflect only assets acquired during the FY or total assets as on date. I mean for example I am dealing in MFs and invest about Rs 12 Lakhs per annum. As on todat I have a portfolio of about Rs 40 Lakhs. So what I am to show in Shares and securities? Rs 40 Lakhs or Rs 12 Lakhs invested in the FY?
    Please revert

    Regards

    Nand Shouche

    • Dear Nand,
      Declaration of A&L is mandatory for the tax assessees whose income is above Rs 50 Lakh.
      I dont think declaration of investments in Mutual funds have to be made in ITR - 2 (If at all it needs to be done, it is on cost basis).
      At present, details of assets and liabilities to be provided under “Schedule AL” is more exhaustive for those using ITR 3 an ITR 4.
      Read : Which ITR form to file FY 2015-16?

  • I am a salaried person with no other income.
    i invest in shares and mutual funds but have not sold any shares or mutual funds in the FY 16-17.
    i have got only dividends from my shares as additional income.
    which ITR Form do i fill in?
    ITR 1 or ITR 2 .
    Thanks

    • Dear VIVEK..You can file ITR 1 form and can disclose the dividend income in 'Exempt income' column (just for reporting purposes).

  • I am house wife. My husband do trading in stock market behalf of me in my name It has long term and short term profit. and also Loss in f&o options section. Which itr form I have to submit ? Where I can show my f&o loss. My income from all sources not exceeds 2 lacs .

    • Dear Mandakini,
      You may file ITR 3 form.
      Kindly take help of a CA and get this done.

  • Hi Sreekanth,

    Nice article. :)

    I file ITR every year by myself only. I was working in India till November 2016 and in December 2016 I moved out of India for work. I received my form 16 from employer starting April 2016-November 2016.

    1.) I wanted to understand do I need to declare (in AY 2017-18) that I moved out of India and earning there. If yes, then what are the necessary steps I have to take care.

    2.) Another thing as my earning is Zero in FY 2017-18 then is it necessary to file ITR of AY 2018-19 because I won't be having Form 16 or anything like that. ?

    Thanks.
    Mittal.

  • In assessment year 2016-2017 I have business Income and capital gain income which itr form I am fillup.

  • Dr sir, i m a teacher and also a farmer. plz suggest me itr form in which i can show my professional income and exempt agriculture income for AY 17-18. Note:- agriculture income is more than 5000.

    • Dear GULSHAN,
      If you have salary income + Agri income, you may consider ITR 2 form.

  • Dear Sreekanth Reddy Sir,

    I work in a private company . Hence Till FY2015-16 I used to e-filled ITR-1....................

    I have also done MF SIPs for 7 different AMCs 8 schemes for period 2009-2016 . But on January 2017 I have sold out my all 8 mutual funds schemes in one shot.

    Now my question is that -

    (1) How to calculate SIP gains for each monthly payments , as all redeemed in one go ?

    (2) Please share me the excel sheet , where I can get the capital gains amount (short & long term as per sip dates)

    (3) while e-filing at https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in , under the section ' PREPARE & SUBMIT ONLINE ITR' why only ITR-1 and ITR-4 are able to select . Why ITR-2 , ITR-3 is not there ?
    ( But in case of offline fill-up , all ITS are there as XML file)

    Kindly support with your answer specifically as per my queries , as general as could leads to confusion.

  • Hi Srikanth,

    I have non-taxable capital gains and professional income, I would like to utilize presumptive taxation scheme. Can you please let me know if I can make use of ITR-4, to include both the incomes? If not, how do I file return while taking presumptive taxation scheme. Please let me know.

    Thanks,
    Tom

    • Dear Tom,
      In case, exempt income (non-taxable capital gains) is more than Rs 5k, I dont think one can use ITR 4 (Sugam) form.

      • Thanks Srikanth ... Can you please let me know what is the correct ITR in my case? Also, do I need to show the bills/accounts for my professional income. I will be glad if you can give me some pointers on this.

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