ITR-1 Sahaj — Complete Filing Guide

ITR-1, officially called Sahaj, is the one-page income tax return form for a resident individual whose total income is up to ₹50 lakh and comes only from salary or pension, one house property, interest and other ordinary sources, plus agricultural income up to ₹5,000. It cannot be used by NRIs, company directors, unlisted-share holders or anyone with capital gains or business income.

1. Log in at incometax.gov.in with PAN as user ID, then open e-File › Income Tax Returns › File Income Tax Return.
2. Select the assessment year, choose ‘Online’ mode and pick ITR-1 (Sahaj) after confirming the eligibility questions.
3. Choose old or new regime. The new regime is the default — switch to old only if your 80C/80D/HRA deductions genuinely give a lower tax.
4. Review every prefilled figure against Form 16, Form 26AS, AIS and TIS. Correct any mismatch on the portal rather than accepting the prefill blindly.
5. Enter house-property details (self-occupied or let out) and home-loan interest under Section 24(b), capped at ₹2 lakh for a self-occupied house.
6. Add all bank and FD interest under Other Sources — including interest the bank did not deduct TDS on — and claim 80TTA/80TTB.
7. Check the tax summary. Pay any balance tax as self-assessment tax under challan 280 and enter the challan details.
8. Preview, submit, and e-verify within 30 days using Aadhaar OTP, net-banking or a pre-validated bank account. An unverified return is treated as never filed.

ITR-1 is filed online — there is no paper submission except for very senior citizens filing under Section 139(1) on paper. The blank ITR-1 PDF and its official instructions for each assessment year are published on the Income Tax Department portal under Downloads › Income Tax Returns, and the JSON offline utility (Common Offline Utility) is on the same page. After filing you can download your filed return and ITR-V acknowledgement from e-File › Income Tax Returns › View Filed Returns.

The portal prefills salary, TDS, interest and dividend from Form 16, Form 26AS, AIS and TIS. Prefill is a starting point, not proof — banks routinely report interest the depositor forgot, and employers sometimes report late. Reconcile AIS line by line before submitting; if AIS shows income that is not yours, raise feedback in the AIS portal instead of leaving the mismatch in your return.

• Resident individuals with salary/pension
• One house property (self-occupied or let out)
• Interest income & family pension
• Agricultural income up to ₹5,000
• Total income up to ₹50 lakh

• NRIs / RNORs (must file ITR-2)
• Anyone with capital gains
• Anyone with business/profession income
• Directors of companies
• Holders of unlisted equity shares

• Form 16 (Part A + B)
• Form 26AS + AIS + TIS
• Bank interest certificates
• Rent receipts + landlord PAN (HRA)
• Home-loan interest certificate
• PAN & Aadhaar (linked)

• Bengaluru IT employee: ₹18L salary, ₹22k FD interest, one home loan — ITR-1 in 20 minutes.
• Delhi government pensioner: ₹6L pension, ₹48k savings interest — ITR-1 with 80TTB.
• Pune teacher: ₹9L salary, HRA claim, one rented home — ITR-1 with rent receipts.

• Filing ITR-1 with capital gains — return marked defective
• Skipping Form 26AS/AIS reconciliation
• Missing landlord PAN for HRA above ₹1L/year
• Choosing wrong tax regime (default is new regime AY 2024-25)
• Not linking PAN with Aadhaar — refund blocked