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Income Tax Filing Checklist

1. Form 16 from your employer: Form 16 provides the details of salary and deductions allowed from salary. It also provides details of TDS deduction from salary. The ITR forms require you to submit a break-up of the salary components, exemptions such as HRA and deductions such as 80C investments. Form 16 enables you to fill up the necessary details in the ITR. You should also check the TDS deduction with TDS reflected in Form 26AS. In case of any mismatches or any missing data, you need to seek details or corrections from your employer.
2. TDS certificates on interest income, dividend income and other income: Collect details of other income earned by you, if any. TDS certificates on interest income, dividend income or other income enable aggregation of other income. You can also collect interest certificates from banks or post offices which will give details of interest credited to your deposit accounts. Similarly, you can aggregate the interest earned on savings bank account using your annual bank statement. You should check and verify the TDS deduction with TDS reflected in Form 26AS. In case of any mismatch or any missing data, you can seek corrections from the bank or the entity issuing TDS certificate.
3. Exempt income details: In case you receive exempt income such as PPF interest, the details of the exempt income should be reported in the ITR. You can find the details in the PPF passbook or statement.
4. Rental income and housing deductions: Collect the details of rental income, if any received on properties owned by you. In case you have any housing loan, collect interest certificate from bank or financial institution. You should have the data on interest payments and housing loan repayments made during the financial year. Also, you should have municipal tax paid receipt for the house property. In case of any TDS deduction on the rental income, you should check and verify with the TDS reflected in Form 26AS.
5. Sale of immovable property (land and building): In case you sold any immovable property during the financial year, you should have the sale deed and the details of original cost to arrive at the capital gains and report in the ITR. In case of any TDS deduction, you can verify the same with Form 26AS.
6. Sale of shares, mutual funds or other securities: In case you are investing or trading in listed securities, shares, mutual funds etc., you need to collect the annual realized profit or loss statement from your broker. You need to have the details of the transactions for the purpose of reporting the income or loss from investing or trading in securities. In case you bought and sold cryptocurrency, you need to report the income or loss in the ITR.
7. Freelancing income and business/profession income: In case you earned freelancing income or income from business or profession, you should have details of the receipts and expenses incurred for reporting the income in the ITR. In case you are registered under GST, you need to have details of GST filings for the purpose of verification. You should bear in mind the requirement to get your accounts audited, if required and report the details of the audit.
8. Tax saving investments, medical insurance and others: If you made investments in tax saving securities such as ELSS mutual funds, LIC premium, ULIP, NPS subscription etc., you need to have the proofs for the purpose of claiming deductions. Similarly, you should aggregate details of medical insurance, donations etc., for the purpose of claiming deductions for the payments.
9. Form 26AS: Form 26AS is a PAN based annual statement a taxpayer can download from their income tax login. Form 26AS contains details of:
   1. 1. Interest income, dividend income, salary and other income credited to your account and the TDS deduction thereon.
      2. TDS on immovable property transactions carried out by you.
      3. Advance tax payments made during the financial year.
      4. Self-assessment tax paid for the financial year.
      5. Refunds issued to you.
10. Aadhaar linking with PAN: It is necessary to link your Aadhaar with PAN in your income tax profile to enable successful filing of the ITR.
11. Validation of bank account with PAN: You need to link your bank account with PAN and pre-validate the bank account in your income tax login. It is necessary for receiving income tax refunds to the correct bank account.
12. Details of foreign assets, investments and directorship in unlisted companies: A taxpayer who is holding foreign assets and a resident and ordinarily resident in India should report the details of their foreign assets. Also, if any taxpayer holds directorship in an unlisted (private) company and investments in unlisted shares, such information should be reported in the ITR.

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