Latest developments in ITR Filing

With the ITR filing season going on, it is best to get attuned to the latest developments made by the Income tax department.

New Excel Utilities for ITR-1 and ITR-4 have been recently introduced by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) to simplify the process of filing returns. This blog will provide an overview of these utilities and how they can be utilized for filing your ITR for AY 2023-24.

The physical forms for ITR-1 and ITR-4 have also been made available by the ITR department to file income tax returns (ITRs) for the financial year 2022-23 or assessment year 2023-24. These forms were released following the notification by CBDT in February. 

To file your Income Tax Return (ITR), you will usually need documents such as Form 16, house rent receipts (if relevant), payment receipts for investments (if applicable), and other documents specific to the relevant ITR form.

It is important to bear in mind that ITRs are forms without annexures, which implies that no supporting documents, such as TDS certificates or proof of investment, need to be attached to your return, whether filed manually or electronically.

Nevertheless, it is essential to keep these documents with you as they may be required to be produced before tax authorities in situations such as assessment, inquiry, and other similar scenarios.

A TDS-like certificate, which must be downloaded from the income tax department's filing portal by the Donee institution or NGO to which you have donated, is required to take advantage of this deduction when submitting income tax returns (ITR) going forward, as you may be aware.

What proof will need to get provisioned to claim section 80G deduction?

The donation certificate, which the recipient institution or NGO downloads from the income tax portal, serves as evidence that the money you provided has been received by the NGO and is qualified for the deduction under Section 80G, as per the modified (see Finance Act 2020) terms of that section.

Before FY 2020–21, donors could deduct donations using only the donation receipts issued by the institutions; a donation certificate was not necessary. 

Harbored with technology at the gravity of economic expansion, the Income-tax department has established a standardized procedure that guarantees a one-to-one correlation between donations received by charitable institutions and the deductions claimed by taxpayers.

As a result, starting from the financial year 2021-22, charitable institutions or NGOs that receive donations must submit a report of all donations received to the Income-tax department and provide separate certificates to the donors. These certificates will serve as the basis for taxpayers to claim deductions.

Let us look into the requirements to file a statement of donations. 

A statement of donation in Form 10BD must be electronically submitted on the income tax department's e-filing portal by the Accredited Donee institution or NGO that has been authorized by the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner of Income Tax.

Either a digital signature or an Electronic Verification Code (EVC) can be used to submit Form 10BD electronically. Form 10BD's statement of donation must be submitted by May 31 of the fiscal year that follows the year the donation was received.

FAQ:

1) Should the certificate of donation get generated from the ITR e-filing portal? 

An organization can download the donation certificate in Form 10BE from the income-tax e-filing system after uploading Form 10BD.

This certificate of donation in Form 1OBE is generated for each donor individually. Form 10BE must be sent by email or another suitable way to each individual donation by the organization. Note that Form 10BE is considered furnished only when it gets sent to the donors.