JSON Utility for ITR1 & ITR 4 for AY 2021-22 released by CBDT

CA Sapna Ghelani | Last updated: 07 April 2021

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Quick Summary

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has released a new JSON utility for filing ITR-1 and ITR-4 for the Assessment Year 2021-22. This new utility replaces the older Excel and Java versions. A key feature of this new utility is that importing a Prefill file is now mandatory. The CBDT has also outlined specific system requirements for using the JSON utility, including operating system, processor, RAM, and hard drive space.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has introduced a new utility named JSON Utility for ITR - 1 and ITR - 4 for Assessment Year 2021-22 and have discontinued the Excel and Java Version of these ITR Utilities.

It is said that utility for other ITRs will be enabled in a short span of time.

One of the important features is importing of the Prefill file is mandatory in this utility.

The description of ITR - 1 and ITR - 4 is given as under -

ITR-1

The ITR - 1 Form is for individuals who is a resident (other than not ordinarily resident) having total income up to Rs.50 lakh, who have Income from Salaries, one house property, income from other sources (Interest etc.), and agricultural income up to Rs.5,000 (Not for an individual who is either Director in a company or has invested in unlisted equity shares or in cases where TDS has been deducted u/s 194N or if income-tax is deferred on ESOP.

ITR 4

The ITR 4 is for Individuals, HUFs and Firms (other than LLP) being a Resident having Total Income up to Rs.50 lakhs and who have income from Business and Profession which are being computed under sections 44AD, 44ADA or 44AE of the Income Tax Act (Not for an Individual who is either Director in a company or has invested in Unlisted Equity Shares or if income-tax is deferred on ESOP).

The Income tax department has specified certain instructions to access the utilities. The same has been explained through steps as under: -

Step 1 - Firstly Select the Assessment Year

Step 2 - You have to download either excel or Java or JSON utility depending on the ITR which is required to be filled.

The utility by default will get downloaded in your system in a folder named 'download' folder in a compressed mode (ZIP file)

Step 3 - Extract (un-compress) the zip file containing the utilities.

The folder will be extracted in the same location where the compressed utility was downloaded i.e. ‘download’ folder.

Step 4 - You can now access the utility by opening the same and start filling it.

Further, the department suggests some basic system requirements that should be taken care of. The utility cannot be accessed if the same requirements are not met.

The following are the specified System Requirements

For JSON Utilities: OS - Windows 7 or later are supported, Processor - Intel Pentium 4 processor or later that's SSE2 capable or AMD K10 or above core architecture, RAM - 1.5GB of RAM or more, HDD - 500MB or more of free space
For Excel Utilities: Macro enabled MS-Office Excel version 2010/2013/2016 on Microsoft Windows 7 / 8 /10 with .Net Framework (3.5 & above)
For Java Utilities: Microsoft Windows 7/8/10, Linux and Mac OS 10.x with JRE (Java Runtime Environment) Version 8 with latest updates.
JRE can be downloaded from https://java.com/en/download/

Click Here to view the direct link of accessing the JSON file for ITR-1 and ITR-4 for Assessment Year 2021-22

FAQ :

The CBDT has released a new JSON utility for filing Income Tax Returns (ITR) - 1 and ITR - 4 for the Assessment Year 2021-22.

The Excel and Java versions of the ITR Utilities for ITR-1 and ITR-4 have been discontinued.

ITR-1 is for resident individuals with a total income up to Rs.50 lakh, having income from Salaries, one house property, other sources, and agricultural income up to Rs.5,000. It's not for individuals who are directors, have invested in unlisted equity shares, or have specific TDS/deferred income situations.

ITR-4 is for resident Individuals, HUFs, and Firms (excluding LLPs) with a total income up to Rs.50 lakhs, having income from Business and Profession computed under sections 44AD, 44ADA, or 44AE. It's not for individuals who are directors, have invested in unlisted equity shares, or have deferred ESOP income.

The JSON utility requires Windows 7 or later, an Intel Pentium 4 processor (SSE2 capable) or AMD K10 or above, 1.5GB of RAM, and 500MB of free hard drive space.