ITR Form 2A – The new IT Return Form for AY 2015-16

Form ITR 2A - The Detailed Guide
Form ITR 2A – The Detailed Guide

The income tax department has finally come out with new forms for filing income tax returns for AY 2015-16. These forms were revised after outrage from tax payers and are suppose to be simpler.

In the whole simplification process, income tax department have introduced an additional form ITR 2A in addition to the existing ITR forms ITR 1, ITR 2, ITR 3, ITR 4, ITR 4S, ITR 5 and ITR 6.

What is Form 2A?

Form 2A is supposed to be a less complicated version of Form ITR 2. ITR 1 (also known as Sahaj) is a very simple form but only few salaried individual are eligible to file their IT return using the same. So many tax payers had to fill ITR 2 which is very complicated. So ITR 2A is the quick fix – a stripped down version of ITR 2 which would benefit a set of people.

Who can use ITR 2A?

ITR 2A can be filled by both HUFs and individuals who have income from:

  • Salary/Pension
  • House Property
  • Other Sources (including income from winning lotteries and race horse)

* People with income from winning lotteries and race horse had to earlier fill ITR 2. So life becomes simpler for them

Who cannot use ITR 2A?

Individuals or HUFs with following conditions cannot fill ITR 2A and have to fill ITR 2:

  • Income from Capital Gains
  • Income from Business/Profession
  • Any claim of relief/deduction under Section 90, 90A or 91 (related to foreign income and claim deduction of tax paid there under tax treaties between countries)
  • Having any asset located outside India including financial interest in any entity
  • Having income from any source outside India (all bloggers/freelancers with foreign income like Google Adsense cannot fill ITR 2A)

Difference between ITR 1 and ITR 2A?

  • HUF cannot file returns through ITR 1 while both individuals and HUF can use ITR 2A.
  • ITR 1 can be filled by people who have income from only one house while ITR 2A can be filled for income from multiple houses.
  • ITR 1 cannot be used if there is loss from House property brought forward from previous years. They can fill ITR 2A instead of ITR 2.
  • ITR 1 can be used if the income from Agriculture is less than Rs 5,000 else needs to fill ITR 2A

Form 2A – Who benefits?

Introducing a new form ITR 2A makes life easier for following categories that earlier had to fill complicated Form ITR 2

  1. Having income from more than one house property
  2. Loss from house property brought forward from previous years
  3. Income from winning lottery or from race horses
  4. Exempted income like from agriculture etc is more than Rs 5,000
  5. HUFs with other income like interests on fixed deposit, etc

Download Form 2A:

You can download Form 2A and respective instructions to fill the form from Income Tax Website.

Additional Information:

  1. No documents or TDS certificate needs to be attached to the form
  2. You need to declare your bank account details for all savings and current bank accounts held by you at any time during the previous year (excluding dormant accounts)
  3. You also need to furnish Passport Number (If available)
  4. You can give your Aadhaar number (optional)
  5. Also it has space for providing two email ids (optional)

As the forms for income tax return has been delayed, the deadline for filing has been postponed to August 31, 2015 (its July 31 every year). However, it’s advisable to file your returns as soon as possible to get your tax returns at the earliest.

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