Income Tax Return for Salaried Person

A salaried return looks simple from the outside and almost never is. Form 16 covers the salary; Form 16A covers TDS on interest, professional fees and other heads; the bank gives interest certificates; the broker / AMC gives capital-gains reports; the employer gives perquisite valuations; and the Income Tax portal silently aggregates all of it into AIS, TIS and Form 26AS — the three places that determine, before you file, what the Department thinks your income is. By 2026, the Section 143(1) intimation runs the moment a return is filed, comparing AIS / TIS to the ITR line by line, and a single mismatched dividend or unreported FD interest can hold up a refund or generate a notice within weeks.

For AY 2026-27 the system has hardened in three ways. The new tax regime under Section 115BAC is the default — opting for the old regime requires an explicit election (Form 10-IEA where business income is involved). The Section 87A rebate has been expanded under Budget 2025 to make income up to ₹12 lakh effectively tax-free for resident individuals under the new regime (along with the standard deduction of ₹75,000 — taking the no-tax band to about ₹12.75 lakh of salary). Capital-gains rates have been streamlined — 12.5% LTCG (with ₹1.25 lakh exemption on listed equity / equity MF) and 20% STCG on listed equity from July 2024 transactions onwards. And the simplified ITR-1 still covers most salaried filers, but anyone with capital gains, foreign assets, multiple house properties, or income from agricultural exceeding ₹5,000 falls into ITR-2.

We file salaried returns end-to-end — Form 16 / 16A reconciliation, AIS / TIS / 26AS matching, regime modelling, deduction optimisation, capital-gains computation, e-verification, and notice handling — for individuals, NRIs and HUFs.

The Right Form, The Right Regime

• ITR-1 (Sahaj):: Resident individual; salary up to ₹50 lakh; one house property; other-source income (interest, dividend) up to ₹50 lakh; agricultural income up to ₹5,000. Excludes: directors of companies, holders of unlisted equity, capital gains, foreign assets, RNOR / NR.

• ITR-2:: Resident, RNOR or NR; salary; multiple house properties; capital gains; foreign assets / foreign income; agricultural income above ₹5,000; directorships; unlisted shares.

• ITR-3:: Where the salaried filer also has business or professional income — partnership share, freelance / consultancy, intra-day trading or F&O.

• New Regime (Default) — Section 115BAC:: Lower slabs; standard deduction ₹75,000; Section 87A rebate up to ₹12 lakh; Section 80CCD(2) employer NPS; no other Chapter VI-A deductions; no HRA / LTA / 24(b) home-loan interest on self-occupied; allowed: capital-gains exemptions, home-loan interest on let-out.

• Old Regime (By Election):: Higher slabs offset by Section 80C, 80D, 80E, 80G, HRA, LTA, 24(b) home-loan interest up to ₹2 lakh self-occupied, NPS 80CCD(1B) ₹50,000, etc. Form 10-IEA where business income; otherwise election in the return itself.

The Reconciliations That Decide The Refund

Form 16 vs AIS Salary: Salary, perquisites, allowances, profits in lieu of salary; ESOP exercise valuations; deferred-bonus / variable-pay reconciliations.

Form 16A & 26AS TDS: Interest TDS (10% above ₹40,000 / ₹50,000 senior citizen), professional-fee TDS (Section 194J), rent TDS by tenant (Section 194-IB above ₹50,000 monthly), property-purchase TDS (Section 194-IA at 1% above ₹50 lakh).

AIS Capital Gains: Listed equity / mutual fund redemptions auto-flow from broker / AMC PAN reporting; LTCG above ₹1.25 lakh and STCG taxed at 12.5% / 20% respectively from July 2024 transactions.

AIS Dividend & Other Income: Dividend taxed in hands of recipient (since FY 2020-21); FD / RD / SCSS interest; gift income; cryptocurrency / VDA at 30% with 1% TDS.

HRA / LTA Substantiation: Rent receipts, landlord PAN where rent above ₹1 lakh per year, lease agreement; LTA only on actual travel within India, twice in a four-year block.

Why Refunds Get Stuck — And How To Avoid It

The single most common reason for a delayed refund is a Section 143(1) auto-intimation flagging an AIS / TIS / 26AS mismatch. Bank-interest unreported, dividend missed, capital gain at the wrong rate, deduction claimed under a section not allowed in the chosen regime — each generates an adjustment. We pre-reconcile all portal data to your records before filing, fix any mismatches at source (employer / bank / broker), and where the underlying data on AIS is wrong, file a feedback through the AIS portal itself before the return — so the intimation is clean.