Looking at the last minute rush, the Income Tax Department has decided to give a month breather to tax payers in filing their Income Tax Returns (ITR). There are many reasons for rush at end moment, while some try to still get cracking and follow proper procedures for filing ITR, either online or taking help of Chartered Accountants (CAs), some simply get frustrated by the fact that it requires them to recall and keep track of what they spent their money on or saved. Thus this may result in laziness and in the process ITR does not get filed - some forget it for years.

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Therefore, IT department has now extended the deadline for filing ITR up to August 31, 2018 from previous July 31.

Archit Gupta, Founder & CEO ClearTax said, "While return filing due date has been extended, taxpayers are still unsure about how penalty applies to them if they cannot file by 31st August. To dispel any confusions, the return extension has been done for taxpayers who had a due date of 31st July. All of them can now file by 31st August."

The IT department has already launched an advertisement on their official website cautioning tax payers. It says Hurry Up file before due date and avoid paying late fee up to Rs 5,000.

Well if you do not want to end up paying the above penalty, here’s a list of things you need to remember while filing for ITR in order to make things easier for you. The first important for filing ITR is to have the right documentation with you. Once every details is stored with you filing ITR is just a piece of cake.

However, it needs to be noted that documents for filing ITR differs from person to person, thereby, here’s a list of details you should remember, as per ClearTax.

Salaried employees

If you are a salaried employee, gather these documents to e-file your income tax returns in India. Go through this list to see the documents you’ll need to do your taxes.

  • PAN number
  • Form-16 issued by your employer

Documents

  • Bank statement/passbook for interest on savings account.
  • Interest income statement for fixed deposits.
  • TDS certificate issued by banks and others.

Form 26AS

Form 26AS is a summary of taxes deducted on your behalf and taxes paid by you. This is provided by the Income Tax Department.

It shows details of tax deducted on your behalf by deductors, details on tax deposited by taxpayers and tax refund received in the financial year. This form can be accessed from the I-T Department’s website.

Section 80 Investments

Section 80C investment documents. Investment made under PPF, NSC, ULIPS, ELSS, LIC qualify for deductions under Section 80C.

These documents at hand to claim the following expenses as deductions –

  • Your contribution to Provident Fund
  • Your children’s school tuition fees
  • Life insurance premium payment
  • Stamp-duty and registration charges
  • Principal repayment on your home loan
  • Equity Linked Savings Scheme/Mutual funds investment
  • The maximum amount that can be claimed under Section 80C is Rs 1.5 lakhs.

Others

Interest paid on housing loan: Interest on housing loan is eligible for tax saving upto Rs 2,00,000. This is for a self-occupied house. For let out or deemed let out property, there is no limit of interest on housing loan eligible for tax saving till FY 2016-17. From FY 2017-18, the total loss from house property available for set off against other income is capped at Rs 2 lakhs and therefore, interest on housing loan is eligible for tax saving upto Rs 2,00,000 for let out property as well.

Education loan interest payments.

Stock trading statement: The stock trades that were made during the year may be taxed under Capital Gain.