Income Tax Return Filing in India 2026: A Plain-English Guide
ITR is the annual income tax return filed with India's IT Department. Learn about ITR forms, due dates, AY vs FY, how to file online, and what investors need to declare.
Income tax return filing in India is the annual process of reporting your income, deductions, and tax paid for the previous financial year to the Income Tax Department of India. The filing is done online through the Income Tax e-Filing portal at incometax.gov.in, with separate ITR forms for salaried individuals, business owners, and capital-gains earners. The due date for most individual taxpayers is 31 July of the assessment year, though traders with audit requirements have a later deadline.
What is income tax return filing?
Income tax return filing is the act of submitting an Income Tax Return (ITR) form to the Income Tax Department of India. The ITR summarises a taxpayer's income, deductions, exemptions, and tax already paid for a financial year (1 April to 31 March). The form also calculates whether the taxpayer owes additional tax or is due a refund.
Filing is mandatory for individuals whose gross income exceeds the basic exemption limit, and is also required in several other defined situations such as foreign asset holding or specified high-value transactions.
How to file an ITR online
The Income Tax e-Filing portal at incometax.gov.in is the single official channel for online ITR filing. The flow has five steps.
- Register or log in. Use your Permanent Account Number (PAN) as the user ID. New users must first register.
- Pick the right ITR form. ITR-1 (Sahaj), ITR-2, ITR-3, and ITR-4 (Sugam) serve different taxpayer types. Choosing the wrong form leads to a defective return notice.
- Pre-fill and verify. The portal pre-fills salary, interest, and capital gains data from Form 26AS, the Annual Information Statement (AIS), and the Taxpayer Information Summary (TIS). Cross-check every entry.
- Compute tax and pay any balance. Use the portal's built-in tax calculator. Pay any balance through net banking, UPI, or debit card.
- Submit and e-verify. Submit the return and complete e-verification within 30 days. Options include Aadhaar OTP, net banking, demat account login, and bank account pre-validation.
Which ITR form to use
| Form | Who can file it |
|---|---|
| ITR-1 (Sahaj) | Resident individuals with salary, one house property, other sources up to ₹50 lakh total income |
| ITR-2 | Individuals or HUFs with capital gains, more than one house, or foreign assets |
| ITR-3 | Individuals or HUFs with business or professional income, including F&O traders |
| ITR-4 (Sugam) | Resident individuals, HUFs, and firms with presumptive business income |
New tax regime vs old tax regime
The Government of India introduced a new tax regime under Section 115BAC of the Income Tax Act, 1961. The new regime has lower slab rates but removes most deductions and exemptions. The old regime keeps the higher slab rates but allows deductions like Section 80C, House Rent Allowance (HRA), and home loan interest.
From Assessment Year 2024-25 onwards, the new tax regime is the default. A taxpayer who wants to use the old regime must actively opt out. Salaried taxpayers can switch every year. Business and professional taxpayers can switch out only once, except in special cases.
Income tax for F&O and intraday traders
Futures and Options (F&O) trading income is treated as non-speculative business income under Indian tax law. It is reported in ITR-3, not ITR-2. Three points matter for traders.
- Aggregation of profit and loss: F&O profits and losses are added across the year. Losses can be set off against other business income, and unabsorbed losses can be carried forward for eight years.
- Tax audit threshold: A tax audit under Section 44AB applies when turnover crosses defined thresholds. For F&O traders, turnover is calculated using the absolute sum of profit and loss on each trade.
- Intraday equity is speculative business income: Intraday equity profit is taxed as speculative business income and is reported separately from F&O business income.
Income tax calculator and due dates
The Income Tax e-Filing portal hosts an official income tax calculator for AY 2025-26. The calculator compares the old and new regime side by side once income and deduction details are entered. Several private financial websites publish their own calculators that follow the same official slab rates.
The due date for individual ITR filing without audit is 31 July of the assessment year. For taxpayers requiring an audit (which can include high-volume F&O traders), the due date is 31 October. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) can extend the due date by notification.
What happens after filing
Once an ITR is submitted and e-verified, the Income Tax Department processes it and issues an intimation under Section 143(1). Three outcomes are possible. The return is accepted as filed. A refund is issued (usually within 4-6 weeks). Or a defect or mismatch is flagged for response.