The government today extended the deadline for filing income tax return (ITR) for the financial year 2018-19 by a month to August 31, 2019. The process is not as tedious as you think it is as a lot of it is now online, forms are becoming pre-filled or partially pre-filled this year.

Mayur Shah, Partner at EY, has explained the process in detail and the changes in the tax forms this year.

Speaking about the ITR forms being pre-filled, Shah said, “It is a phenomena for next year. Currently I do not think they are geared up to have a pre-filled return.”

Speaking about who can opt for ITR-1, he said: “ITR-1 is a very simple form. The return needs to be filled up which does not have much of particulars required. Therefore it has a restricted use. Overall income should not exceed Rs 50 lakh and the same goes with ITR-4. Both cannot be used if income is above Rs 50 lakh. Only those who are resident and ordinarily resident can use this form.”

ITR-1 can be used for salary, one house property or income from other sources, said Shah. “Income from dividend or interest can be included. There is only one restriction. A person who is drawing a dividend of more than Rs 1 million cannot use this form because there is a separate tax which is being levied on dividend above Rs 1 million,” he added.