ITR Filing: CBDT notifies new ITR Forms 1 & 4 for AY2024-25

financialexpress.com:

Surprising taxpayers with an unexpected and welcome gesture, the Income Tax Department has played the role of an early Santa Claus this year by unveiling the Income Tax Return (ITR) Forms 1 and 4 for the Assessment Year 2024-25. These ITR Forms will be applicable for filing income tax returns with respect to income earned during the previous year 2023-24 (between 01-04-2023 to 31-03-2024).

“The I-T department usually notifies the ITR form before the start of the subsequent Assessment Year, i.e. in February or March. However, this unexpected early release not only marks a departure from the established timeline but also implies that taxpayers will have a more extended period to familiarize themselves with the changes, gather necessary documentation, and file their returns with greater precision,” said Naveen Wadhwa, Vice President Research, Taxmann.

Here we are taking a look at the key changes in new ITR forms viz-a-viz last year’s ITR Forms:

The CBDT has not amended Rule 12 of the Income-Tax Rules, 1962, which outlines the criteria for the applicability of ITR forms to different classes of taxpayers andmethod of furnishing returns.

The form to be used by a taxpayer to file the Income-Tax return for the AY 2024-25 will be same as applicable for AY 2023-24.

Also Read: How to manage the corpus effectively after your PPF account matures

The Finance Act 2023 has amended the provisions of section 115BAC to make it the default tax regime for the assessee being an Individual, HUF, AOP, BOI and AJP. If an assessee does not want to pay tax according to the new tax regime, he will have to explicitly opt out of it and choose to be taxed under the old tax regime.

Section 115BAC(6) allows the eligible assessee to opt out of the new