Here’s a lowdown on the procedure for filing Form ITR-1

ITR-1, also known as the Sahaj Form, is the simplest one for a resident individual who has income of up to Rs 50 lakh from the following mentioned sources:

Income from salary 
Income from single-house property (excluding the brought forward or carry forward losses) 
Income from other sources (excluding winning from the lottery and income from race houses) 
 
Further, before filing the ITR-1, the taxpayer is required to gather the documents namely, Form 16, Annual Information Statement (AIS), Form 26AS, Taxpayer Information Summary (TIS), interest certificates, investment proof and receipts to claim exemption and deductions. The taxpayer has the option to file the ITR either through online mode or by accessing offline Excel utility. It is to be noted that the taxpayer should have a valid ID and password for the income tax portal and the status of PAN should be active. Below is the process for filing of ITR-1 online:

Step 1: Furnishing Personal Information: The information in this section is pre-filled from the e-Filing profile or from the previous return filed by the taxpayer. The taxpayer needs to validate the pre-filed data and make necessary changes as deemed fit to the taxpayer. The taxpayer can edit the contact details, bank details, and ITR filing detail. A taxpayer also must select whether he/she wants to opt for the old tax regime since the new tax regime is the default regime from this year. The screenshot of this section is attached below for reference:

After filing the “Personal Information” section, confirmation would be granted for this section.

Step 2: Furnishing Gross Total Income: Under this section, the taxpayer must furnish his/her total income from all the sources along with the details of exemptions.

Step 3: Total Deductions: Under this section, the taxpayer needs to add, delete or confirm any deductions applicable namely, life insurance, medical premium, pension fund, and provident fund etc.

Step 4: Total tax paid: Under this section, the taxpayer needs to confirm the taxes paid by him/her in the previous year, which includes TDS from salary and other than salary, TCS, Advance Tax and self-assessment tax furnished by the taxpayer.

Step 5: Total Tax Liability: Under this section, the taxpayer needs to review the tax liability which would have to be paid as per the validated sections.

After verifying all the data, the taxpayer may proceed for the mandatory verification, and e-verification is the easiest and quickest way to verify the ITR.

Afterwards, the taxpayer can preview the return and the data filled in and proceed to validation. Further, the taxpayer must verify the return by opting for any one option from the given option at his/her own discretion. On successful e-verification of the ITR, the same would be communicated to the registered mobile no. and email ID of the taxpayer.

The author is Head of Tax Market at tax and consulting firm AKM Global