Govt releases income tax return form 1, 4 for assessment year 2024-25

The income tax department on Saturday has released the Income Tax Return (ITR) form 1 and 4 for the individuals and entities with an annual total income of up to ₹50 lakh for the next financial year, i.e. 2024-25.

According to the sources, individuals, including Hindu Undivided Families (HUFs), firms with income up to ₹50 lakh, and all those business and professional entities, can start filing returns for the income earned this financial year, which is from April 2023 to March 2024. Further, income has to be computed under Sections 44AD, 44 ADA, and 44AE.

Other than this, taxpayers who are eligible to file for ITR-4 will also have to opt out of the new regime, if they don’t want that to be included because the new tax regime will be included by default.

ITR forms for a particular year are generally issued by the end of the financial year. However, for the convenience of the taxpayers, the forms for the current financial year have already been issued in the month of December itself. These forms are Form 1, which is known as Sahaj and ITR form 4 which is known as Sugam, will ease the process for the small and medium taxpayer.

Last date to file ITR

The last date to file the ITR for the current financial year is July 31, 2023 (the date remains the same unless the government changes it). 

It is to be noted here that, the income tax department notified the ITR forms for FY 2022-23 (AY 2023-24) in February 2023 for last year, just after the Budget 2023. But this time, the forms have been introduced the months in advance before the financial year ends on March 31, 2024. However, it should be underlined that it may be mentioned that taxpayers, this way will not be able to know their exact total income before the financial year ends.