ITR Filing Guide India: AY 2026-27 Forms, Dates, Refunds

Every income tax return you file this season answers for the financial year that ended 31 March 2026 — FY 2025-26 — which the department calls assessment year 2026-27. Most people filed by 31 July 2026; freelancers and small business filers using ITR-3 or ITR-4 got a later date of 31 August 2026 for the first time. If neither happened, the window has not shut: a belated return is still possible until 31 December 2026, for a fee. This guide walks the whole process — who must file, which form, what the new regime means at filing time, the paperwork to assemble, the filing steps, the deadlines, refunds, and the notices you most want to avoid.

Think of this as the map for our ITR cluster on the tax hub. The regime-choice debate, the salaried walkthrough and the Form 26AS deep-dive each have their own post; I name them as we go rather than repeating them here.

Who has to file a return at all

The basic rule: you must file if your total income exceeds the basic exemption limit. Under the old regime that limit is ₹2.5 lakh, rising to ₹3 lakh for those aged 60-80 and ₹5 lakh for those above 80. Under the new regime it is ₹4 lakh for everyone. Exceed the limit that applies to the regime you compute tax under, and a return is mandatory — refunds and losses aside. Source: Income Tax Department, tax-rates page and senior-citizen return-applicability guidance, incometaxindia.gov.in, as on 2 Nov 2026.

Here is the part most people miss: several people must file even when income sits below the exemption limit. The seventh proviso to section 139(1) turns specific financial footprints into a filing trigger:

Cross any one of these and the return is compulsory even if your taxable income is nil. Source: section 139(1), Income-tax Act 1961, seventh proviso; conditions summarised in the Income Tax Department's ITR-1 instructions and CA summaries by myITreturn and MV Achuthan & Co, as on 2 Nov 2026.

Two more groups deserve a mention. Senior citizens aged 75 and above, whose income is only pension and interest and who hold both with the same notified bank, need not file at all — the bank deducts the tax under section 194P. And if your income is below the exemption but a deductor cut TDS anyway, filing a return is the only way to claim that money back; the department will not send it to you on its own. Source: Income Tax Department, section 194P guidance on the e-filing portal, as on 2 Nov 2026.

One timing note for this year: AY 2026-27 returns are still filed under the Income-tax Act, 1961. The rewritten Income-tax Act, 2025 takes over from the next filing cycle, so the forms, sections and vocabulary you meet this season are the familiar ones. Source: Income Tax Department transition FAQs listed on incometaxindia.gov.in; cross-checked against India Briefing's AY 2026-27 compliance summary, as on 2 Nov 2026.

Which ITR form applies to you

The department has kept the individual form map for AY 2026-27:

Source: Income Tax Department, Returns and Forms Applicable for Salaried Individuals for AY 2026-27, incometax.gov.in, as on 2 Nov 2026.

ITR-1's exclusion list has grown over the years, so check it before assuming Sahaj applies. You cannot use ITR-1 if you are a company director, hold unlisted equity shares, own any asset or signing authority abroad, receive income from outside India, have losses to carry forward, or had tax deducted under section 194N (cash withdrawals beyond limits). One useful relaxation survives: long-term capital gains under section 112A — the listed-equity route — up to ₹1.25 lakh can be reported in ITR-1. Cross that figure and you are in ITR-2 territory, along with anyone claiming capital gains on debt funds, property or F&O. Source: Income Tax Department, ITR-1 applicability note for AY 2026-27, incometax.gov.in, as on 2 Nov 2026. For how those gains are taxed, our mutual fund taxation guide covers the rates.

ITR-4 is optional convenience for presumptive filers — eligible taxpayers can always file ITR-3 instead, but Sugam is the lighter form. Note that ITR-1 and ITR-4 are also closed to non-residents and to resident-but-not-ordinarily-resident individuals.

The new regime is the default — here is what that means at filing

Since FY 2023-24 the new regime under section 115BAC(1A) is the default. For FY 2025-26 its slabs run: nil up to ₹4 lakh, 5% from ₹4-8 lakh, 10% from ₹8-12 lakh, 15% from ₹12-16 lakh, 20% from ₹16-20 lakh, 25% from ₹20-24 lakh and 30% above ₹24 lakh. Source: PIB press release on Union Budget 2025-26, February 1, 2025.

At filing time the default matters in two ways. First, the tax computation you see preloaded in the portal utility assumes the new regime, with its ₹75,000 standard deduction for salaried and pensioners and its section 87A rebate of ₹60,000 that wipes out tax up to ₹12 lakh of taxable income (₹12.75 lakh effectively, counting the standard deduction). Source: PIB Budget 2025-26 release; Income Tax Department FAQ on section 87A for FY 2025-26, incometaxindia.gov.in, as on 2 Nov 2026. Second, you can still opt for the old regime in the return itself — salaried taxpayers without business income simply tick the old-regime option and compute on those slabs. If you have business income, leaving the new regime needs Form 10-IEA filed before the return.

Which regime actually costs less is the subject of our new vs old tax regime complete guide — it owns that debate, with slab tables and worked scenarios. The filing-level summary: the new regime wins for most salaries now, and the old regime fights back only when HRA, home-loan interest and full 80C-class deductions stack up.

The document stack before you start

Four statements do most of the work. Gather them before you open the form, and the filing itself becomes a checking exercise rather than a hunt.

• Form 16 — your employer's salary TDS certificate, due by 15 June. Part A summarises tax deducted and deposited quarter by quarter; Part B is the salary annexure with exemptions and deductions the employer allowed. Source: Income Tax Department, official guidance that Form 16 be issued by 15 June (rule 31(1)(a)), as on 2 Nov 2026.
• AIS (Annual Information Statement) — the department's near-complete record of your financial year: salary reported by employers, savings and deposit interest, dividends, securities and mutual fund transactions, foreign remittances. Available on the compliance portal after login.
• TIS (Taxpayer Information Summary) — the one-page aggregated summary that sits inside the AIS, category by category. Source for both: Income Tax Department, FAQs on Annual Information Statement, incometax.gov.in, as on 2 Nov 2026.
• Form 26AS — the consolidated tax credit statement: TDS, TCS, advance tax, self-assessment tax, high-value transactions and outstanding demands. Our Form 26AS guide explains each part in detail and how to pull it from the portal or TRACES.

The discipline is simple: Form 16 is the employer's word, AIS is the department's word, and your return is your word. Reconcile all three before filing, because mismatches are the top trigger for automated follow-ups.

Step by step: filing on the e-filing portal

1. Log in at incometax.gov.in with your PAN (which is your user ID), password and OTP. New users register with PAN, Aadhaar and a mobile number.
2. Start the return. Under e-File, choose Income Tax Returns, then File Income Tax Return, select AY 2026-27 and the mode — the online form with prefilled data suits most salaried filers; the offline utility suits heavy capital-gains schedules.
3. Pick the right status and form. Individual, then ITR-1 or ITR-4 if eligible, ITR-2 or ITR-3 otherwise. If you are unsure, the portal's help me choose tool walks the questions.
4. Review every prefilled number. Salary from Form 16, interest from your banks, dividend from the depository, capital gains from the broker-reported statement. Prefill is a convenience, not an audit — it can omit an interest figure or show gross values where you should report net.
5. Claim your deductions. Under the new regime that is the standard deduction and employer NPS under 80CCD(2); under the old regime, HRA exemption, 80C, 80D and the rest, with the HRA least-of-three formula we work through in the salaried guide.
6. Reconcile the tax credit schedules. Match each TDS row in the form against Form 26AS and the TIS figures; report bank interest even when no TDS was cut.
7. Pay anything due. The computation shows tax payable after credits; use e-Pay Tax for self-assessment tax and link the challan before submitting.
8. Submit and verify. After submission you get an acknowledgement number (VUID). The return is not valid until it is verified — see the 30-day rule below.

Source: Income Tax Department e-filing portal filing workflow, incometax.gov.in, as on 2 Nov 2026. Figures you enter remain your responsibility; the portal does not catch an omitted FD interest entry, but its AIS report will.

E-verify within 30 days — no exceptions

Verification completes the return. The time limit is 30 days from the date of filing. Miss it and the return is treated as filed on the date of verification — pushing you late, with late-filing consequences — and an unverified return is simply invalid. Source: Income Tax Department, FAQs on 30 Days' Timeline for E-verification of Returns, incometax.gov.in, as on 2 Nov 2026.

E-verification routes, from quickest to slowest: Aadhaar OTP, net-banking, bank demat account pre-validated on the portal, or the old ITR-V print-sign-post-to-Bengaluru route. Aadhaar OTP closes the loop in minutes. Once verified, processing begins and the refund clock runs.

The AY 2026-27 calendar, assembled

Sources: due dates per the Income Tax Department e-filing portal and official communications (ITR-3/ITR-4 non-audit at 31 August 2026; audit-category extension by CBDT Circular 07/2026 dated 28 September 2026, from 31 October to 21 November 2026); verification and processing limits from incometax.gov.in and incometaxindia.gov.in, as on 2 Nov 2026.

Filing late costs real money. The section 234F fee is ₹5,000 where total income exceeds ₹5 lakh and ₹1,000 otherwise, plus interest under section 234A on any unpaid tax. The belated return rides the same 31 December 2026 deadline as a revised return — file the original wrongly and you fix it by filing again, marking it revised. Source: section 234F, Income-tax Act 1961; CA summaries by CA Club India and Tax2Win, as on 2 Nov 2026.

Miss even that and the updated return (ITR-U) remains open far longer: since the Finance Act 2025, an updated return can be filed within 48 months from the end of the assessment year — this season, that covers AY 2022-23 through AY 2025-26. The price is an additional tax under section 140B that rises the longer you wait: 25% of tax and interest due within the first 12 months after the belated deadline, then 50%, 60% and 70% across the following bands. An updated return cannot declare or increase a loss. Source: Income Tax Department, Updated Return of Income page, incometaxindia.gov.in, noting the Finance Act 2025 extension to 48 months effective AY 2026-27; the 25-70% tiers cross-checked against independent CA analyses by Vittsphere, Coraa and Dealplexus, as on 2 Nov 2026.

Refunds: how they arrive and what holds them up

Once your verified return is processed under section 143(1), any excess of tax paid over tax due becomes a refund, credited to the bank account you pre-validated and nominated on the portal. There is no statutory deadline for the credit itself; in practice refunds land within weeks of e-verification when the data is clean. What delays them, in rough order of frequency:

• Bank account not pre-validated or not nominated for refund — the single most common hold.
• PAN inoperative because Aadhaar is not linked; refunds cannot be issued against an inoperative PAN (Rule 114AAA). Source: Income Tax Department, Link Aadhaar FAQ and e-campaign communications, incometax.gov.in, as on 2 Nov 2026.
• Mismatch between your return and AIS or 26AS, pulling the return into closer scrutiny.
• An outstanding demand from an earlier year — the department can adjust your refund against it after sending a section 245 intimation, which you have the chance to dispute. Source: Income Tax Department, Respond to Outstanding Demand FAQ, incometax.gov.in, as on 2 Nov 2026.

Interest on delayed refunds runs under section 244A at 0.5% per month — 6% a year — on refunds from TDS, TCS or advance tax, counted from 1 April of the assessment year if you filed by the due date, or from your filing date if you filed late. No interest if the refund is under 10% of the tax determined. Source: section 244A, Income-tax Act 1961, incometaxindia.gov.in, as on 2 Nov 2026. Filing on time is therefore worth 6% a year on your own money — quiet money, but yours.

Track the status by logging into the portal: e-File, Income Tax Returns, View Filed Returns — the status line moves from Submitted to Processed to Refund Paid, with the refund date and mode shown. Our TDS and Form 26AS guide covers the tracking flow and the reissue path when a refund fails to credit.

The 143(1) intimation: a receipt, not a notice

Within nine months of the end of the financial year in which you filed — for this season's returns, by 30 September 2027 — the department must send the section 143(1) intimation. Most are receipts: it shows what you computed, what they computed, the refund or demand, and the reconciliation. Source: Income Tax Department, time-limit FAQ for intimation under section 143(1), incometaxindia.gov.in, as on 2 Nov 2026.

Read it anyway. The department may make limited adjustments at this stage — arithmetic corrections, an incorrect claim that is apparent from the return, disallowance of a loss where the return itself was filed late. If the intimation arrives with a demand, check whether it stems from a TDS row that never reached 26AS (fix by rectification) or a genuine discrepancy. If you disagree, a rectification request under section 154 on the portal is the remedy, not silence.

The habits that keep notices away

• Report every interest figure — savings, FD, RD — even without TDS. The AIS sees it either way.
• Claim TDS only where 26AS shows it, and cross-check Form 16 against 26AS before filing.
• File and e-verify on time; the 30-day verification window is a deadline, not a suggestion.
• Answer portal communications (e-campaigns, defective-return notices under 139(9)) inside the response window rather than letting a demand crystallise.
• Keep the AIS feedback loop honest — disagree with a wrong entry on the compliance portal rather than silently reporting different numbers.

None of this is dramatic. It is a paperwork habit that costs an evening a year and spares you the anxiety that notice-panicked taxpayers know well.

Where to go next in this cluster

If you are salaried, the step-by-step salaried guide takes Form 16, HRA and the new-regime slabs apart. If TDS puzzles you or a refund is stuck, the Form 26AS and refund guide is the deep-dive. For the regime decision itself — the ₹12.75 lakh question — read our new vs old tax regime complete guide, and for how SIPs and funds are taxed at redemption, the mutual fund taxation post. File once, verify once, and the season is closed.

This is educational content, not tax advice. For a decision specific to your situation — business income, foreign assets, past-year demands — a chartered accountant earns their fee.