A checklist of all investment or deposit documents you need for filing your ITR for FY 2019-20

A checklist of all investment or deposit documents you need for filing your ITR for FY 2019-20

The last date for filing your income tax return for the financial year 2019-20 (the assessment year 2020-21) is fast approaching. To file your return on time without missing a deadline, it is important to be well prepared. This year, the government has also extended the window period for the compilation of all the relevant documents for filing the income tax return. Depending on your source of income, exemptions, and deductions that you are claiming, compiling the required documents is the first aspect of your income tax return filing. Let’s discuss in detail all the documents required for filing your ITR for FY 2019-20.

List of documents (investment/deposit) required for filing ITR for FY 2019-20

• PAN
• Aadhaar (ensure to link Aadhaar with PAN before you file your income tax return)
• Form-16
  For salaried individuals, Form 16 is the document issued by the employer which carries the details of salary and the tax deducted at source (TDS certificate). Form 16 has two parts. One part consists of the tax deducted at source by the employer in the financial year, the Tax Deduction Account Number (TAN) of the employer, and your PAN details. The other part of form 16 shows gross salary information.
• Salary slips
  The income tax return form also asks for the nature of your salary income such as basic salary and dearness allowance, etc. You are required to keep your salary slips ready.
• Form 26AS
  New Form 26AS is an annual information statement that gives you details of tax-deducted at source, tax collected at source, details of income tax payment such as self-assessment tax and advances tax payment, details pertaining to your financial transactions and details of unfinished and complete income tax measures. You can cross-check the details and get it corrected in case of any errors. Form 26AS can be accessed from the official website of the Income Tax Department used for e-filing of your income tax return.
• TDS certificates (Form 16A, Form 16B, Form 16C, and Form 16D)

Apart from TDS deduction by your employer, TDS may get deducted on many other income types for which you need to collate TDS certificates. Following are the TDS certificates you need to collect from the deductor, if applicable.

• Form 16A:
  Tax deducted at source on income other than salary are stated in form 16A such as TDS deducted on insurance commission and TDS deducted on interest from bank fixed deposits, etc.

• Form 16B:
  Form 16B is for providing details of tax deducted at source on sale of the property.

• Form 16C:
  Form 16C is a TDS certificate issued by the tenant of the property stating the details of TDS deducted on rent.
• Form 16D:
  Form 16D provides details of tax deducted at source on payment of a commission, contractual fee, brokerage, or the professional fees when the payment exceeds INR 50 lakhs.
• Interest certificates
  Apart from salary, interest earned on various investments also gets added to your taxable income. You can keep the following documents ready for interest income –

• Updated passbook of your savings account for the interest/ interest certificate issued by the bank (Form 16A)

• Interest certificate for fixed deposits
• Interest certificate on post office deposits and investments
• Tax-saving investment proofs

There are various investments that give you tax benefits. That means, contribution towards these investments can be claimed for a tax deduction. Document for such tax-saving investment needs to be kept ready for filing the income tax return. If you invest in any of the following tax-saving investments, keep the investment proofs ready–

1. Contribution towards Public Provident Fund (PPF)
2. Contribution towards Employee Provident Fund (EPF)
3. Contribution towards National Savings Certificate (NSC)
4. Contribution towards Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana (SSY)
5. 5-year tax-saving fixed deposit certificate
6. Contribution towards Senior Citizen Savings Scheme (SCSS)
7. Contribution towards Equity Linked Savings Scheme (ELSS)
8. Contribution towards National Pension System (NPS)
9. Premium payment towards Unit Linked Insurance Plans (ULIPs), pension plans and any other life insurance plans
10. Certificate of investment into infrastructure bonds
11. Premium payment towards health insurance policies (for self and family), etc and any other investment that qualifies for a tax deduction as per chapter VI A of the Income Tax Act, 1961.

Apart from this, there are various expenditures that are eligible for a tax deduction. It is important to keep the following related documents ready for filing the income tax return in the financial year 2019-20 (the assessment year 2020-21)

• Documents related to maintenance and medical treatment expenses of a dependent person with a disability.
• Medical bills
• Interest statement of educational loan taken
• Interest statement of loan taken for house property
• Interest statement of loan taken for the purchase of an electric vehicle
• Receipts of donations given to charitable institutes
• Rent receipts
• Receipts of donations for rural developments and scientific research

However, it is important to keep a note of the upper limit under each section, which is subjected to change.

• Documents related to income from other sources

If there is income from other sources to furnish, the following are the documents that you may need to keep ready for filing the income tax return –

1. Bank passbook and interest certificates
2. Dividends and warrants
3. Bank statement and receipts for agricultural income
4. Documents related to lottery income (taxable)

• Documents related to income from house property
  When you earn any income from house property and on expenditure related to house property, you can save tax in many ways. Following are the documents you need to keep ready related to house property –

1. Rental agreement in case of rental income from house property
2. Property address documents
3. Receipts of municipal taxes paid
4. Interest certificate from the bank on home loans
5. Home loan statement
6. Document on pre-construction interest paid
7. Copy of last year return

• Documents related to capital gains

You are required to furnish the details of short-term capital gains and long-term capital gains while filing the income tax return. Following are the documents that you need to keep handy:

1. Property details with purchase and sale deed
2. Purchase deeds for reinvestment of capital gains
3. details of capital market transactions (Share/bonds/debenture etc)

Income tax return filing requires lots of preparation in advance. Keep all the relevant documents ready and handy to make your ITR filing process smooth.