The central government on recently announced
simplified and thinner income tax (IT) returns forms, which do away with
unnecessary disclosures on spending during foreign visits & dormant bank
accounts, while extending the deadline for filing returns by a month, to August
31, 2015
Rules related to reporting of foreign assets by
expatriates have also been simplified.
Indian taxpayers with overseas assets would,
however, be required to make disclosures, which was the main purpose of
revision of the forms.
The department clarified that instead of
providing spending details on overseas visits, individuals or / HUFs using ITR2 & ITR 2A forms would have
to furnish passport numbers.
Similarly , on bank accounts, it said only the
IFS code along with the account number of all current and savings accounts will
be required to be filled in, but account balance need not be declared.
“Details of dormant accounts which are not
operational in the last three years are not required to be furnished,“ it
added. The simplification follows an uproar over the government's earlier
forms, which required disclosure of all spending during personal visits abroad
in addition to details of all domestic bank accounts.
This prompted finance minister Mr. Arun Jaitley
to immediately order a review of the document as it was seen to be intrusive
& cumbersome.
“Forms ITR 1, 2 and 4S for assessment year
2015-16 were
notified on April 15, 2015. In view of various representations, it
was announced that these ITR forms will be reviewed. Having considered the
responses received from various stakeholders, these forms are proposed to be
simplified,“
The finance ministry said in a statement.
It said individuals with exempt income without
any ceiling, other than agricultural income of over Rs. 5,000, can now file
Form ITR 1 or / Sahaj, while a similar form called ITR 4S or / Sugam will be available for individuals or
/ HUFs.
Sugam is to be filled up by those with specified
business income, income from salary or pension, income from one house
(excluding those who have brought forward losses from the previous year) or/
income from other sources, excluding lottery or horse racing. But, the major
changes have been brought about in ITR 2, where a new form ITR 2A has been
introduced.
“As a measure of simplification, it has been
endeavoured to ensure that in Form ITR 2 & the new Form ITR 2A, the main
form will not contain more than three (3) pages, and other information will be
captured in the schedules which will be required to be filled only if
applicable,“ the finance ministry said.
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| Sonu Iyer, Human Capital Leader, EY |
The government said that currently , majority of
individuals or / HUFs filling up ITR 2 do not earn capital gains although the
form is meant for those with capital gains & income from more than one
house property . The new form -ITR 2A -is meant for those individuals or / HUFs
who do not earn capital gains, or / do not have income from business profession
or foreign asset foreign income.
The statement said the software for the forms is
under development & is expected to be ready for e-filing by the 3rd week of
June, prompting the government to defer the filing date to August 31, 2015.
“Very welcome move. The government has carefully
considered the representations made & suitably dealt with the same by
coming out with changed & different forms. Expatriates can breathe easy as
unnecessary information will not be requested,“ said Ms. Sonu Iyer, Human
Capital Leader, EY (Ernst & Young).
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