What this covers
Preparing and filing the return of income for an individual, a Hindu undivided family, or a non-resident — bringing together salary, house property, capital gains, business or professional income, interest and dividends, foreign income and assets where they exist, and claiming the deductions and reliefs that are actually available on those facts.
Statutory basis
The Income-tax Act, 2025. Residential status determines the scope of what is taxable in India, and it is a question of days present, not of citizenship or intention. Income is computed head by head, deductions are allowed as the Act permits, and the taxpayer chooses between the ordinary regime and the alternative slab regime. For tax years up to 31 March 2026 the corresponding provisions were the residence test in section 6, the heads of income, the Chapter VI-A deductions and the alternative regime in section 115BAC of the 1961 Act.
Who it applies to
Anyone whose total income before deductions exceeds the amount on which tax is not chargeable. Also, regardless of income level, anyone caught by the separate obligations to file — holding foreign assets or signing authority over a foreign account, or crossing the prescribed limits on deposits, foreign travel spending or electricity payments. A non-resident is taxable only on Indian income, but the Indian income still has to be reported and treaty relief has to be claimed properly to be given.
What we do
- 1Determine residential status on the days actually spent in India, including the extended tests that can make a returning or departing individual a resident.
- 2Reconcile the tax credit statement and the annual information statement against your own records, and resolve mismatches before filing rather than after a notice.
- 3Compute each head on its own basis — salary against the deduction certificate issued by the employer, house property with the interest deduction, capital gains transaction by transaction with cost and holding period.
- 4Compare the two regimes on your actual numbers, since the answer turns on the deductions you can genuinely substantiate rather than the ones available in principle.
- 5Disclose foreign assets and income where they exist; the penalty regime for non-disclosure is far heavier than the tax involved.
- 6File, and verify — an unverified return is not a filed return.
What you receive
- Computation
- A head-wise computation showing how the final figure was arrived at.
- Regime comparison
- The two regimes run on your numbers, so the choice is evidenced rather than assumed.
- Return filed
- Filed and verified, with the acknowledgement.
- Position note
- A short note on anything a query might touch — a treaty claim, a capital gains exemption, a large deduction.
Documents and information required
Salary deduction certificate from each employer — Form 130 under the Income-tax Rules, 2026, formerly Form 16 · tax credit statement and annual information statement · bank interest and dividend statements · capital gains statements from brokers, with purchase records · property documents for sale or purchase, with stamp duty values · home loan interest certificate · proofs for deductions claimed · foreign account, asset and income details · passport pages where residential status is in question · last year's return and computation.
Key dates
The return is ordinarily due in the July following the tax year where no audit is required, and later where one is. A belated or revised return can be filed within the window the Act allows, and an updated return for a longer period after that, each with its own cost. The department's dates have been extended in several recent years, and 2026-27 is the first year under the new Act — we work from the notification for the year.