ITR Filing? Income Tax Dept's 4-Step Guide Will Make It Easier, More Accurate For You

As the tax season has already picked up, the Income Tax Department has issued a simple guide to help taxpayers file their income tax returns accurately and avoid common errors that typically trip people up. Shared on their official X (formerly Twitter) handle, the post details technical jargon and it breaks the process into four straight-to-the-point steps.

Here’s an overall detailing of income tax return filing checklists that you can follow to ensure that your ITR is accurate and your refunds (if any) drop by in time.

Filing your return with the wrong ITR form is like showing up to an exam with the wrong answer sheet.

Whether you are a salaried individual, self-employed, or earning through capital gains or rent, picking the correct form is step one. ITR-1 (Sahaj) is for most salaried individuals, while ITR-4 (Sugam) suits those with presumptive income. The Income Tax portal now has simplified eligibility tools to help you pick. Use them. They are there to prevent form rejections and unnecessary scrutiny.

Moreover, the tax department has tweaked the ITR forms this year that has changed some reporting requirements for taxpayers, even the salaried individuals.

The new forms require taxpayers with long-term capital gains (LTCG) from equity and equity mutual funds to file their tax returns using ITR1 and ITR 4 (as per applicability), provided the capital gains do not exceed Rs 1.25 lakh.

The department’s post reiterates a common but crucial step: verify all tax deducted at source (TDS) entries with your Form 26AS and Annual Information Statement (AIS). Cross-check everything against your Form 16 or 16A, but only if they are generated from TRACES.

The Income Tax Department provides “TDS Reconciliation Analysis and Correction Enabling System” (in short TRACES) as an online tool that allows both TDS payers and deductors to see and reconcile their TDS payments online so that they can easily file returns and seek refunds.

This tool helps weed out mismatches that could delay refunds or trigger automated notices. People often skip this thinking pre-filled data is foolproof, it’s not. It’s a starting point, not a final draft.

If you are not using the e-filing portal’s smart tools, you're doing it the hard way. The Tax Calculator is one such tool that lets you compare the old vs new tax regimes without even logging in. It tailors estimates based on whether you are an individual, HUF, or senior citizen.

There is also the pre-filing utility and downloadable ITR forms. All of this makes the process faster and reduces the chance of manual errors.

Even if you file your ITR correctly, an unvalidated or outdated bank account can derail your refund. If your refund has failed, you likely need to validate or re-validate your bank account on the e-filing portal. The department has also clarified the steps to raise a “Refund Reissue Request” once the account is validated. This part may seem trivial, but it is the single most common reason for refund failures, year after year.

No jargon, no overwhelm, just a four-point reminder that filing correctly is entirely doable. You don’t have to be a tax expert, just a little methodical.

The Income Tax Department’s guide to accurate income tax return filing is: simplify, verify, file smart, and stay refunded.