New Delhi: The government is looking to further
simplify forms for filing income tax returns, to help taxpayers fill
them without seeking help from experts, and the Revenue Department has
set up a committee in this regard.
The committee will be headed by a Joint Secretary level officer and
would include chartered
accountants and tax experts, according to
sources.
"The tax department is trying to further simplify the return form so
that no outside help is needed by those who want to file returns on
their own," a source told PTI.
The effort would be to come out with a simple formula for indexation to
help assessees compute capital gains on sale of assets, the source
added.
"The Committee would also look into the possibility of reducing the number of pages in the return form," the source said.
The Income Tax Department in June came out with a simplified tax return
form for the salaried class. Filers now have to disclose the total
number of savings and the bank accounts held by them at any time during
the previous year (excluding dormant accounts).
The form also has space to fill up the IFSC code of the bank and in an
additional feature, tax filers have been given an option to indicate
their bank accounts in which they would want their refund credited. The
ITR also has sought the Aadhaar number of filers.
The Income Tax Department had come out with simplified ITR after experts
raised objections to the 14 page form which was notified earlier in the
year.
The earlier form sought details of bank accounts and foreign visits and
following controversy, the Revenue Department announced putting them on
hold.