India’s ITR Forms for AY 2024–25: Key Updates

The Income Tax Department of India has announced the Income Tax Return (ITR) Forms 1-6 for the Financial Year 2023–24 (Assessment Year 2024–25). The new forms were released in early February by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) to help taxpayers and streamline the filing procedure. ITR Filing Services Forms 1 to 6 will be effective from April 1, 2024.

Also, from April 1, e-filing for some of the forms – ITR-1, 2, and 4 – was enabled by the Income Tax Department.

The new changes introduced in AY 2024-25 ITR forms follow primarily from the amendments made to the Income-tax Act, 1961, as outlined in the Finance Act, 2023. For example, a new provision under Section 43B inserted into the Income-tax Act prohibits deductions for any amounts payable to micro or small businesses that are not paid within the MSME Act’s set time limit in order to guarantee timely payments to MSMEs.

The deadlines for filing ITR-2 and ITR-3 are set for July 31, 2024. However, individuals subject to income tax audits and those with business income are required to submit ITR-3 by October 31, 2024.

The Income Tax Department has seven distinct forms for Tax Filing Online, namely ITR-1, ITR-2, ITR-3, ITR-4, ITR-5, ITR-6, and ITR-7.

Within two income tax return forms, namely ITR-1 (SAHAJ) and ITR-4 (SUGAM), for the AY 2024–25, a filing deadline is set for July 31, 2024, unless an extension is granted. The notification for ITR-1 and ITR-4 for FY 2024–25 was issued on December 22, 2023.