Has your employer handed over your form 16 for income earned and tax deducted during 2016-17 for which you need to file your tax returns this fiscal?

In case you have not handed over Form 16 it is time to remind your employer since already a few weeks of the new financial year has elapsed.

The deadline for filing IT returns is fast approaching and most of the salaried people and professionals would be bracing themselves to file their returns before the deadline. There are huge benefits and advantages to file your income tax returns early which we will discuss in details. It is better to file your income tax returns early for any individual.

E-filing of income tax returns has begun on TruTax.

Upload form 16 on TruTax and file your income tax returns within 5 minutes.

Here are some advantages of filing ITR early:

Claim a refund:

If you are claiming a refund then you will get the refund faster when you will file your income tax returns early.

Processing of refunds takes more time than the processing of forms.

Apart from that If your refund is more than the 10% of tax payable then you will get 6% interest on the refund amount.

Proper documentation time:

When you file your taxes early then you will get enough time to prepare all the required documents ready such as Form 16, Form 26AS, interest certificates, loan repayments etc.

Checklist of documents for filing ITR:

https://www.trutax.in/blog/income-tax/income-tax-returns-documents

You can review your income details and return filing properly. In case of any mistake in the ITR filing process you get ample chances to revise the return or rectify the errors in ITR form.

Carry forward losses:

It is important to file an ITR, if you want to carry forward a loss under heads of income from your business, capital gains and income from any other sources.

If you do not file your income tax returns then you will not be able to carry forward losses. A long term capital loss in one year can be carried forward for eight consecutive years immediately succeeding the year in which loss in incurred.

Self employed:

Business, consultants and partners of firms do not get Form 16.Due to this ITR receipts become an even more important document for them, provided their annual income exceeds the basic exemption limit of Rs 2.50 lakh.

For all sorts of financial transactions ITR receipts will be the only proof of income and tax payment for the self-employed.

Apply for a loan:

Banks generally ask for your ITR copy before giving you a loan. So, filing an ITR increases the chances of getting loan easily.

Buying life cover of Rs 50 lakh or Rs 1 crore also required your ITR documents to verify annual income.