An Income Tax Return (ITR) is a form that taxpayers use to report their income, deductions and tax liabilities to the Income Tax Department.
The Income Tax Department on Friday released Excel utilities for ITR-1 and ITR-4 for the financial year 2025-26 (assessment year 2026-27), allowing eligible taxpayers to start filing their income tax returns. Offline utilities are available for download on the IT Department’s e-filing portal. With the release of these forms, the ITR filing season for 2026-27 has officially begun.
Taxpayers can use Excel-based utilities to enter their income and tax details offline, calculate tax liabilities, create a JSON file and upload it to the e-filing website for filing and verification.
The move is expected to help salaried individuals, retirees, small business owners and professionals covered by default tax plans start the filing process early and avoid a last-minute rush as the deadline approaches.
What is ITR form?
Income Tax Return (ITR) is a form through which taxpayers disclose their income, deductions and tax liabilities to the Income Tax Department. Taxpayers are generally required to file their returns by July 31 of each fiscal year.
At present, there are seven different forms of ITR, ITR-1 to ITR-7. The model applied depends on the category of the taxpayer, the nature of his income, and his total profits.
What are ITR-1 and ITR-4 forms?
ITR-1 is for resident individuals, other than extraordinary residents, whose total annual income is up to $50 lakh. The form can be used by taxpayers who receive income from a salary or pension, income from up to two homes, and income from other sources such as bank interest. Agricultural income reaches $5000 is also allowed under this category.
In addition, taxpayers have long-term capital gains under Section 112A up $1.25 lakh can also file returns using ITR-1.
ITR-4 applies to resident individuals, Hindu Undivided Families (HUFs) and companies other than Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs) with a total income of up to $50 lakh. It is designed for taxpayers who elect default tax plans under Sections 44AD, 44ADA or 44AE. Taxpayers with long-term capital gains under Section 112A even $1.25 lakh are also eligible to use this form.
