File your income tax returns before August 31

This is the time of the year when people run around for filing their income tax return. This year the deadline has been extended to August 31. The controversial and cumbersome provisions for mandatory disclosure of expenditure on foreign trips and bank balances have been dropped. New provisions have also been introduced, but in a much simpler form.

Although the new forms have done away with detailed disclosures, they still ask for information on your foreign trips and bank account but in an indirect way.

For example instead of foreign trips you took last year the new form simply asks for your passport number. Experts say the onus will now be on the income tax department to find out how much one spent on foreign trips using the passport number, which will not be a very difficult process for them. The intent is to catch tax evaders and curb the flow of black money in the country. Experts, however, dislike the idea of frequent changes being made in the tax laws. Sudhir Kaushik, cofounder and director, TaxSpanner. com, says, "Every year there are some or other changes, which makes the common taxpayer confused. There are number of tax notices now being sent due to wrong selection of ITR form/invalid returns." There are many more changes that have been brought out in ITR forms. Here is a guide to help you understand what these changes are:

NEW FORM (ITR 2A)

Considering that a majority of taxpayers have more than one house property but do not have capital gains the finance ministry has proposed a new Form ITR 2A to simplify the process. The form is for an individual or HUF who have two house properties but does not have capital gains, income from business/profession or foreign asset/foreign income. The good news is Form ITR 2 and the new form ITR 2A willnot be more than 3 pages, and information will be captured in the schedules if applicable. The positive aspect is you no more require giving details of foreign trips or expenditure thereon to the income tax department. But you still need to give your passport number, if available, in Forms ITR-2 and ITR-2A. Vikram Ramchand, chief innovation officer, makemyreturns. com, says, "For common tax payer there is nothing to be worried about but people who take more than 5 or 6 trips from unaccounted money need to be worried. It was earlier a loophole which was exploited by many people."

Earlier you used to give details of only one bank account for refund purposes. From now onwards you will be required to give bank details of all your bank accounts which are held at any time during the previous year. You will need to fill the IFS code and account number of all the current/savings. Experts say the move was needed as people used to hide income received in their other bank accounts. If you have any confusion over filing your income tax return you can take the help of experts to avoid tax notices later.

POSTING OF ITR-V

Earlier after filing the return online you needed to post acknowledgment separately to the income tax office. Now under the new provisions you do not need to post ITR V if the Aadhar number is provided in ITR form.