Correct Form, Right Assesment Year, More: Mistakes To Avoid When Filing Your Income Tax Return (ITR)

The Income Tax Return (ITR) filing deadline for non-audit taxpayers for FY 2024-25 (AY 2025-26) is July 31, 2025. The Income Tax Department has already extended the deadline for belated ITR from December 31, 2024, to January 15, 2025, for Indian resident individuals. So, waiting for the last moment to file ITR may cost you heavy penalties and hurt the outcome of the return filing.

There are so many rules, guidelines, provisions, and sections in ITR filing; therefore, for the newcomer, it’s not an easy task to navigate the complex ring of ITR. 

Here are the following things to avoid while filing the Income Tax Return.

Select the Right Assessment Year

People are often confused about assessment year (AY), which is a period when the previous year’s earnings are assessed, and financial year (FY), the accounting year in which income is earned. For FY 2024-25, the correct corresponding AY is 2025-26. The wrong AY leads to double taxation and unwanted penalties.

Ensuring Correct ITR Form

The person who comes under the tax slab it’s necessary to report all his income sources that are taxable and tax-free using the right ITR form. Selecting the wrong form and filing through that form will lead to a return as ‘defective’, and also ITR can be invalid. So, ensuring the correct ITR form is mandatory.

Using Verified Aadhaar, PAN, and Bank Statement

At this time, it’s necessary to link your Aadhaar, PAN, and Bank Account to your Mobile number. The OTP based verification is a must for upcoming procedures in ITR filing.

In filing ITR, all existing bank statement of the respective FY is required; therefore, if a person has any interest income from Fixed deposit or Recurring Deposit, has to be included in the statements. Also, the correct IFSC code is non-negotiable, because your refund is to be credited to your linked account.

Form 16 & Form 16A

These are certificates for Tax Deducted at Source (TDS). For salaried income Form 16, consists of Part A and Part B. For income other than salary on TDS, Form 16A is required. Filling this form is mandatory for salaried individuals.

Verify Form 26AS

This form must be filled out and verified before the ITR filing. The form contains your earnings, Tax Deducted at Source, advance tax paid, etc, to the Income Tax Department. If there is any mismatch between the Form 16 and 26AS, it will get you in trouble as the future refund procedure can’t be done. This can lead to paying more tax for the same.

After filing, E-Verify ITR V

Verifying the return within 30 days of filing is mandatory, otherwise, your filing considered “Invalid” and a notice stating the same will be sent to you. If you fail to respond within the given time frame. It will be considered as you have not filed your ITR, also all penalties and non-filing fees have to bear.

Also, you can verify the ITR V offline by sending the ITR V (Acknowledgement) to CPC Bangalore with the help of post, e-verifying Aadhaar OTP, EVC, etc.

Reconciling all exemptions and TDS with the accurate Form

Exemptions such as HRA benefit, deduction under Section 80C, donation, and other tax exemption sources should be reconciled in the required format. The AIS (Annual Information Statement), TIS (Taxpayer Information Summary), all existing bank details, Form 26AS, and Form 16s should carry accurate matching transactions.

The “asset and liabilities” (AL) is scheduled to be filled by individuals and HUFs giving details of all AL, which are held by the respective persons.

Also, the Foreign assets and liabilities should be reported in ITR in a given format as per the Income Tax Act of 1961, whether the income is taxable or not, resident and temporary resident Indians have to disclose all. For this kind of property, Schedule Foreign Assets is a schedule in the ITR where you have to mention all these.

After all you should have carry your original transaction details, be aware of all deduction claimed in income tax return, rule and regulation of all filing ITR of movable income sources like Mutual Fund, Medical Insurance Policy, LIC, Children Income from FD, in case of job switching the transaction of last year is required. These are the items that should be kept in mind when you file ITR.

Also, in case of a wrong ITR filed, you can revise it till the deadline, for this, there is no penalty.

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