AY 2026-27 ITR Filing Kicks Off with New Excel Tools Online
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Tax season is here earlier than expected. The Income Tax Department has rolled out Excel utilities for ITR-1 and ITR-4 forms for Assessment Year 2026-27, initiating the official filing cycle for FY 2025-26 via the e-filing portal.
Announced on social media platform X, these utilities support both online submissions and offline processing. Users can fill forms offline, create JSON files for verification, and upload seamlessly to the portal.
The last date for non-audited returns remains July 31. Seven ITR variants exist to match income sources and taxpayer status. Popular ITR-1 (Sahaj) suits residents with income ≤ Rs 50 lakh from salary, one house, or other sources. ITR-4 (Sugam) extends to presumptive income taxpayers like individuals, HUFs, and firms (sans LLPs) within the limit.
CBDT’s recent notifications incorporated stricter reporting for capital gains (long-term), buyback-related losses, and transaction specifics.
Impressively, FY 2025-26 net direct tax mop-up grew 5.12% to Rs 23,40,406 crore, per CBDT figures, signaling strong economic compliance.
Filers should assess their form needs and leverage these tools for accuracy. Early access to utilities is a boon, reducing errors and delays in a high-volume filing period.
