The Income Tax Department has officially started the Income Tax Return (ITR) filing process for Assessment Year (AY) 2026-27 after releasing the Excel utilities for ITR-1 and ITR-4 forms on the e-filing portal. The move allows eligible taxpayers to begin filing returns for income earned during the financial year 2025-26.
The Excel utilities can now be downloaded from the official Income Tax Department portal and used for offline preparation of tax returns. Taxpayers can fill in details offline, validate the information, generate a JSON file, and upload it to the income tax e-filing website for submission and verification.
According to the Income Tax Department, the release of these utilities officially marks the beginning of the ITR filing season for AY 2026-27. The department has currently enabled utilities only for ITR-1 (Sahaj) and ITR-4 (Sugam), while utilities for other forms are expected to be released in phases.
ITR-1 is mainly meant for salaried individuals and pensioners with annual income up to ₹50 lakh from salary, one house property, and other sources such as interest income. Meanwhile, ITR-4 is designed for small businesses, professionals, and taxpayers opting for presumptive taxation schemes under Sections 44AD, 44ADA, and 44AE of the Income Tax Act.
This year’s filing process also includes several important changes in reporting requirements. Taxpayers may now need to disclose details related to long-term capital gains, buyback losses, intraday trading, Futures & Options (F&O) transactions, and certain high-value financial transactions depending on the applicable ITR form.
Experts have advised taxpayers to carefully verify Form 26AS, Annual Information Statement (AIS), and Taxpayer Information Summary (TIS) before filing returns to avoid mismatches and notices from the Income Tax Department.
The deadline for filing income tax returns for non-audit taxpayers is currently July 31, 2026, unless extended by the government. Tax professionals have recommended early filing to avoid last-minute portal issues and to speed up refund processing.
Taxpayers can download the Excel utilities directly from the official Income Tax Department downloads page.
