Professional Income Tax Return filing for salaried individuals, freelancers, and pensioners.
An income tax return is the annual statement of what you earned and what tax you already paid on it, and filing one is compulsory for most people earning above the basic exemption limit — even when the whole liability has already been deducted from your salary. For a salaried person, filing is what converts excess TDS into a refund, creates the income record that a lender or a visa office will ask for, and closes the year off so nothing can be reopened over a return that was never filed.
Who this is for
Expert ITR filing
Maximise refunds
Avoid penalties
Claim deductions
Documents you'll need
PAN card
Aadhaar card
Form 16 from your employer
Bank statements for the financial year
Investment proofs (80C, 80D, and others)
Home loan interest certificate, if applicable
The process
What we actually do
1
We read your Form 26AS and AIS before we ask you anything
Your Annual Information Statement already tells the department what it thinks you earned — salary, interest, dividends, large transactions. We start there, because a return that disagrees with the AIS is the single commonest trigger for a notice. Anything that looks wrong in it gets resolved before the return is prepared, not after.
2
We work out which regime actually leaves you better off
The old and new regimes are not a preference, they are an arithmetic question, and the answer changes with your deductions. We compute your liability under both on your real numbers and tell you the difference in rupees. For most salaried people with a home loan and full 80C, the answer is not the one the default setting picks.
3
We choose the right ITR form
ITR-1 is for straightforward salary and one house property. The moment there is capital gain, a second house, foreign income or business receipts, it is the wrong form — and a return filed on the wrong form is treated as defective under section 139(9), which starts a clock you did not know about.
4
We claim the deductions you have proof for
80C, 80D, home loan interest under section 24, 80TTA or 80TTB on interest, HRA where the rent is genuinely paid. We claim what your documents support and tell you plainly where they do not — an inflated claim is a refund today and a scrutiny notice in eighteen months.
5
We file, and we make you e-verify
A filed return that is not verified within thirty days is treated as never filed. We file, send you the acknowledgement, and follow up until verification is done — because this is the step people forget, and the consequence is losing the filing date entirely.
6
We track the refund and stay with the return afterwards
Refunds are processed against the bank account pre-validated on the portal; a failed credit usually means the account was never validated. We watch it through. If a notice arrives on a return we filed, dealing with it is part of the engagement.
Who this is for
Salaried employees whose total income crosses the basic exemption limit, whether or not TDS was deducted in full
Anyone who wants a refund — excess TDS is only repaid against a filed return
Freelancers and consultants receiving payments after TDS under section 194J
Pensioners with income beyond the pension itself: interest, rent, or capital gains
Anyone who sold property, shares or mutual fund units during the year
People applying for a home loan or a visa, where two or three years of returns are asked for as a matter of course
Anyone holding a foreign asset or foreign bank account, where filing is mandatory regardless of income
How long it takes
Three to five working days from the point your documents are complete. The wait is almost never the filing itself — it is reconciling a Form 16 against the AIS when they disagree, or waiting for a capital gains statement from a broker. Send documents in June and July and the return is filed well before the crush; send them on 30 September and everyone is in the same queue.
If you do nothing
For one year with tax already fully deducted, usually nothing happens immediately — which is exactly why it goes unfiled for three or four years running. What actually follows is a section 142(1) notice asking why no return was filed, arriving at a point where the refund window has closed and the losses can no longer be carried forward. The refund you were owed for a year filed late is often gone; the tax you owed is not.
The law, in figures
Dates, thresholds and sections
Every figure below carries the provision it comes from, so it can be checked.
What
Figure
Source
Filing due date, individuals not subject to audit
31 July following the financial year
Section 139(1), Income-tax Act 1961
Basic exemption limit, new regime
₹3,00,000
Finance Act, new regime slab rates
Time limit to e-verify a filed return
30 days from filing
CBDT Notification 05/2022
Belated or revised return deadline
31 December following the financial year
Sections 139(4) and 139(5)
Updated return (ITR-U) window
Up to 48 months from the end of the assessment year
Section 139(8A), as extended by Finance Act 2025
What usually goes wrong
Filing on the strength of Form 16 alone, when the AIS also shows interest, dividend or a property sale the employer knew nothing about
Claiming HRA without rent actually being paid, which is now cross-checked against the landlord's PAN for larger claims
Assuming savings-account interest is exempt — 80TTA caps it at ₹10,000, and the rest is taxable
Filing ITR-1 in a year when shares or mutual funds were sold, which makes the return defective
Forgetting to e-verify, and discovering months later that the return legally does not exist
Leaving a foreign bank account or ESOP holding undisclosed, which carries consequences far heavier than the tax involved
What non-compliance costs
Late filing fee of ₹5,000 under section 234F, reduced to ₹1,000 where total income is under ₹5 lakh
Interest at 1% per month on unpaid tax under section 234A, running from the due date
Losses other than house property loss cannot be carried forward at all if the return is late
Under-reporting of income attracts a penalty of 50% of the tax involved under section 270A; deliberate misreporting, 200%
These are statutory amounts, not our fees. What we charge depends on your situation and is quoted before any work starts.
Not to be confused with
These come up in the same conversation and are routinely treated as the same thing. They are not.
Form 16
Form 16 is the certificate your employer issues showing salary paid and tax deducted. It is an input to the return, not the return itself — having it does not mean anything has been filed.
TDS return
A TDS return is filed by whoever deducted the tax, not by the person it was deducted from. If you are salaried, your employer files that; you file this.
Common questions
Who has to file an income tax return in India?
You must file if your gross total income before deductions exceeds the basic exemption limit — ₹3,00,000 under the new regime for those under sixty. Filing is also compulsory regardless of income if you deposited over ₹1 crore in a current account, spent over ₹2 lakh on foreign travel, paid over ₹1 lakh in electricity bills, or hold any foreign asset. Many people below the threshold file anyway, because the return is what banks and consulates ask for as proof of income.
Should I choose the new tax regime or the old one?
The new regime is better for most salaried people, and the break-even sits at roughly ₹4,00,000 of total deductions — below that the new regime wins, above it the old one does. The new regime is now the default and taxes nothing up to ₹12,00,000 of taxable income after the section 87A rebate. The old regime only overtakes it once you are genuinely claiming large 80C investments, a home loan interest deduction and HRA together. Our calculator compares both on your actual numbers.
Do I have to declare profits from shares and mutual funds?
Yes, and the department already knows about them — every sale is reported to it and appears in your Annual Information Statement. Listed shares held over twelve months attract 12.5% long-term capital gains tax, with the first ₹1,25,000 of gains exempt each year; held under twelve months, the rate is 20%. Undeclared gains that show in the AIS are the most common trigger for a mismatch notice.
What documents do I need for an income tax return?
For a salaried return: PAN, Aadhaar, Form 16 from every employer you had during the year, bank statements for the financial year, and proof of any deductions you intend to claim. If you sold shares, mutual funds or property you will also need the transaction statements. Each service page lists exactly what that service needs, and your portal shows the checklist with the ones still outstanding.
An ITR is the annual statement of income, deductions and tax paid that a taxpayer files with the Income Tax Department, normally by 31 July for individuals who are not subject to audit.
Form 16 is the certificate an employer issues each year showing the salary paid to an employee and the tax deducted from it, and it is the primary document used to file a salaried person's return.
A capital gain is the profit from selling a capital asset such as shares, mutual funds or property, taxed at rates that depend on how long the asset was held.
