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    How to fill salary details in ITR-1 for FY 2019-20

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    • This year, ITR-1 requires the details of salary income to be provided under four sub-heads.
    • The information required in ITR-1 can be found in Part-B of Form-16.
    Deductions under section 16 can only be claimed if you have salary income or pension.
    Most salaried taxpayers use ITR-1 form to file their income tax returns (ITR). Salaried taxpayers can file their tax return using ITR-1 either on the Income Tax Department's e-filing platform or via the Excel utility form.

    Using the tax department's online platform is easier since the ITR-1 form comes pre-filled with details such as one's name, Permanent Account Number (PAN), Aadhaar number etc.

    Also Read: Documents required to file ITR

    Here's how you can file your salary details in ITR-1 for FY 2019-20.

    Also read: How to file ITR? Here's the complete guide

    ITR-1 form asks taxpayers to provide salary information under four sub-heads:
    a) Gross salary
    b) Allowances to the extent exempt under section 10
    c) Net salary (a-b)
    d) Deductions under section 16

    Once an individual enters all the information in the above-mentioned sub-heads, the ITR-1 form automatically calculates the 'Income chargeable under the head Salaries'.

    The taxpayer can fill up the salary information in ITR-1 using Form 16 issued by his employer. Here's how you can fill the required information using your Form 16.

    A) Gross salary
    This first sub-head under the head 'Salary' is divided into three components:
    (i) Salary as per section 17(1)
    (ii) Value of perquisites as per section 17(2)
    (iii) Profits in lieu of salary as per section 17(3)

    The information asked under the head 'Gross salary' in ITR-1 is provided in a similar format in part-B of one's Form 16. The taxpayer can copy the information from the TDS certificate (i.e., Form 16) and paste it in the relevant section of the ITR-1 form.

    B) Allowances to the extent exempt under section 10
    This section of ITR-1 asks taxpayers to provide information about the allowances received from the employer that are partially or full exempted from tax. Some of the commonly mentioned allowances under this head are house rent allowance (HRA), leave travel allowance (LTA), cash equivalent of leave salary encashment under section 10(10AA) etc.

    This information is available in one's Form 16 under the head 'Allowances to the extent exempt under section 10'. To understand which of the allowances you receive will reflect under 'Allowances to the extent exempt under section 10', you need to know if the allowances received by you as per your salary structure are either partially or fully taxable.

    If the total amount of allowance received by you during the FY 2019-20 is fully tax-exempt, then that will be reflected under this head. If the amount received is partially exempted from tax, then the tax-exempted amount will be reflected under this head and the taxable portion of the allowance will be added to the salary as per section 17(1) under the head 'Gross Salary'.

    For instance, HRA received by you during the FY 2019-20 can be partially/fully tax-exempt or fully taxable subject to specified conditions met. If the HRA is partially/fully tax-exempt, then such tax-exemption will be reflected under this head. If the amount received by you is fully taxable, then the no amount will be shown here and the taxable amount will be added in the salary as per section 17(1) under the head 'Gross Salary'.

    Also Read: How to claim HRA exemption in ITR filing

    To fill in this information in the ITR-1, a taxpayer is required to select the relevant option from the drop-down menu provided in the form and enter the amount.

    As mentioned in the example above, if the HRA received by you is tax-exempt, select option - 'Sec 10(13A) - Allowance to meet expenditure incurred on house rent' and enter the amount in the relevant section as mentioned in your Form 16.

    The drop down menu has 14 options and an individual is required to select and mention every tax-exempt allowance received as mentioned in Form-16.

    C) Net Salary
    Once the gross salary details and allowances exempt from tax details are entered, your net salary will be automatically calculated by the form. This amount should match with the net salary mentioned in the TDS certificate.

    D) Deductions under section 16
    This section mentions the deductions that can be claimed if a taxpayer has salary income and/or pension only. These deductions include:

    a) Standard deduction
    b) Entertainment allowance
    c) Tax on employment/professional tax

    If you are eligible to claim these deductions, then it will be reflected in Part-B of your Form-16. From FY 2019-20, a salaried taxpayer is eligible for standard deduction of maximum of Rs 50,000.

    Similarly, if you are a government employee, then you are eligible for deduction available on the entertainment allowance received by you, if any. If any professional tax was paid by you to the state government during FY 2019-20, then such amount can be claimed as deduction as well.

    E) Income chargeable under the head 'Salaries'
    Once you have entered all the required information from your Form 16 in the relevant sections of ITR-1, then the form (ITR-1) will automatically calculate the final amount of the income chargeable under the head 'Salaries'. You can match this figure with the amount mentioned in your Form 16 to ensure validity of the amount arrived in the ITR-1 form.
    ( Originally published on May 21, 2019 )

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