Income Tax Department rolls back its order, allows filing of return by joint property owners

New Delhi : The Income Tax Department rolled back its week-old order that retrained joint property owners from filing their income tax returns.

On January 3, it had debarred individual taxpayers owning house property in joint ownership and those who paid ₹1 lakh in electricity bills in a year or incurred ₹2 lakh expense on foreign travel from filing their annual income return using the simple return forms.

"After the notification, concerns have been raised that the changes are likely to cause hardship in the case of individual taxpayers," the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said in a statement.

According to the new notification, "an individual can file return under ITR 1 and ITR 4 who jointly owns a single house property, if he/she meets the other conditions".

"It has also been decided to allow a person, who is required to file return due to fulfilment of one or more conditions specified in the seventh proviso to section 139 (1) of the Act, to file his/her return in ITR-1 Form," it added.

The government, which usually notifies forms for filing income tax returns by individuals in April every year, on January 3 notified tax return forms for assessment year 2020-21 (income earning year April 1, 2019 to March 31, 2020).