The Income Tax Department releases the updated ITR Utility every year for online income tax efiling which can be downloaded free of cost. Till now, the ITR Utility Sofware was an excel file through which details in the income tax return form could be furnished and the XML file generated was required to be uploaded online.
However, the income tax department this year has updated the ITR Utility and apart from the Excel Utility, it has also released new ITR Utility is a Java based file which is a highly improved version of the Excel Utility.
Some new features include uploading the Income Tax Return directly from the ITR Utility itself as compared to the previous ITR Excel Utilities wherein the taxpayer was required to first prepare the xml file from the ITR utility and then manually upload on the income tax website.
The new ITR Java Utility has the option for both manual as well as automatic upload of the Income Tax Return on the income tax website.
The ITR Java Utility for Assessment Year 2016-17 can be downloaded from the following links:-
- ITR 1: SAHAJ
- ITR 2A
- ITR 2
- ITR 3
- ITR 4
- ITR 4S: SUGAM
- ITR 5
- ITR 6
- ITR 7
In case you are not sure on which ITR Form to be used, kindly refer this article: Which ITR Form is applicable to you?
Before furnishing the details in the ITR Utility, the taxpayer is requested to keep the following documents ready:-
- TDS Certificates in Form 16/ Form 16A (as the case may be)
- Form 26AS
- Proof of Deductions claimed during the year
- Any other document details of which may be required to be furnished
The ITR Form is required to be submitted before 30th Sept of the Assessment Year in case Tax Audit under Section 44AB is required to be conducted by a Chartered Accountant. In case Audit is not required to be conducted, the last date of filing income tax return in such a case is 31st July of the Assessment Year.
Features of the new Java-based ITR Utility
The new Java based ITR Utility has some new and improved features which are very helpful and the time of income tax return filing. Some of these new features in the ITR Utility have been mentioned below:-
- New: Clicking on this Tax will open a new ITR Form.
- Open: This tab provides the facility for importing the XML (successfully generated earlier) of a particular Assessment Year. Select the path and import the XML.
- Save: This tab provides the facility for saving the complete xml at the desired location in your computer.
- Save Draft: This option can be used to save the XML. It should however be noted that a XML File generated through the save draft option can only be uploaded online.
- Prefill: You don’t have to manually fill all your personal details every time you file your income tax return. All your personal details like Name, Address etc. would be prefilled using this option. The user would be asked to login to his account on the income tax website and all details would be fetched from there. It is advisable to complete this activity before furnishing other data. Please also ensure that you are connected to the internet to avail this facility.
- Re-Calculate: On clicking this button, the tax payable would be re-calculated as per the income tax slab rates.
- Submit: This button provides the facility to directly upload the income tax return on the income tax website from the ITR Utility itself. On clicking this button, the user would be asked for his login credentials for the income tax website and on successful submission of the same the return would be submitted online and the ITR-V generated.
- Help: this tab will guide the user through the shortkeys, instructions, settings and other related FAQ’s for using the ITR Utility.
- Previous/Next: This will help you navigate the various tabs of the ITR Form.
Shortkeys for ITR Utility
| 1 | Alt + N | Opens a new ITR |
| 2 | Alt + S | Saves the ITR in the user desired location |
| 3 | Alt + F4 | Closes the ITR Utility |
| 4 | Alt + I | Imports the XML File |
| 5 | Alt + F | Prefills the ITR |
| 6 | Alt + C | Clears the validation errors |
| 7 | Alt + D | Hides/Shows the validation window |
| 8 | Alt + G | Opens the Submit Screen to submit the ITR |
| 9 | Alt + N | Re-calculates the tax details as per the ITR Utility |
