Declaration of Assets & Liabilities in the new ITR forms

Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) have released new income-tax return formswith mandatory provisions of declaring Assets & Liabilities (A&L) such as cars, jewellery yacht, aircrafts, shares, properties, etc. Prior to Assessment Year (A.Y.) 2015-16, the Asset –Liability Schedule (AL schedule) was applicable to filers of ITR 3 and 4, whose total income for the previous year exceeded Rs.25 lakh. The Wealth-tax Act primarily captured the information regarding assets of specified taxpayers. With a view to reduce compliance burden, the Wealth-tax Act was made inapplicable from A.Y.2016-17 with the stipulation that the information regarding assets forming part of the wealth-tax return will be captured in the Income-tax returns. Accordingly, the ITR forms for A.Y. 2016-17 have been rationalised by making the Schedule AL applicable to individuals and Hindu undivided family (HUFs) whose total income for the previous year 2015-16 exceeds Rs.50 lakh. The objective of AL schedule is to capture details of assets and liabilities and not the net worth.

This was stated by Shri Jayant Sinha, Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance in written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.