ITR Filing 2026 Begins, Key Updato on ITR-1 and ITR-4

ITR Filing Update: There’s a key update for all income tax payers! The Income Tax Department has kicked off the income tax return filing season for the assessment year 2026-27, which corresponds to the fiscal year 2025-26. They’ve rolled out Excel utilities for ITR-1 and ITR-4, so eligible taxpayers can start filing their returns right away.

ITR Filing Process and Its Benefits

An income tax return is basically a form where taxpayers declare their income, deductions, and tax obligations to the Income Tax Department. The new Excel utilities offer a handy offline option:

Taxpayers can easily grab these offline utilities from the e-filing portal of the IT department.
With these, they can input their income and tax info offline and accurately calculate their tax dues.
Once done, they can generate a JSON file to upload to the e-filing site for submission and verification.
The Income Tax Department’s initiative is mainly to assist salaried employees, pensioners, small business owners, and professionals in getting their filing done early, steering clear of the last-minute rush and tech issues that pop up around the usual July 31 deadline.

What is the ITR-1 form for?

Right now, there are seven different ITR forms (ITR-1 to ITR-7) based on the taxpayer’s category, type of income, and total earnings. Here’s what you need to know about ITR-1:

This form is for resident individuals whose total annual income is up to Rs 50 lakh.
Taxpayers can use this form if their income comes from salary, pension, a maximum of two house properties, and other sources like bank interest.
Agricultural income up to Rs 5,000 is also permitted under this category.
Plus, taxpayers with long-term capital gains up to Rs 1.25 lakh under Section 112A can also file using ITR-1.

What is the ITR-4 form for?

On the other hand, the ITR-4 form is designed keeping businesses and professionals in mind:

This form is applicable to resident individuals, Hindu Undivided Families (HUFs) and firms other than Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs) having total income up to Rs 50 lakh.
It is specially designed for taxpayers who opt for presumptive taxation schemes under sections 44AD, 44ADA or 44AE.
Similar to ITR-1, taxpayers having long term capital gains up to Rs 1.25 lakh under section 112A are also eligible to use this form.
With the release of the ITR-1 and ITR-4 utilities, taxpayers now have a great opportunity to file their tax returns ahead of time. Filing your return before the deadline (July 31) allows taxpayers to avoid last-minute rush and ensure a smooth filing process.

Attention taxpayers!
The Excel utility and Online filing for ITR-1 and ITR-4 for AY 2026-27 has been enabled and is now available for taxpayers on the e-Filing portal.@nsitharamanoffc @officeofPCM @FinMinIndia @PIB_India

— Income Tax India (@IncomeTaxIndia) May 15, 2026