Press Information Bureau

Government of India

Ministry of Finance

10-May-2016 17:37 IST

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 ₹ 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 ₹ 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.

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DSM/KA

Assets and Liabilities disclosure now required in income-tax returns for higher-income individuals and HUFs after wealth-tax repeal. The income-tax return forms now include a mandatory Assets and Liabilities (AL) Schedule to capture details of specified movable and immovable assets and liabilities, replacing asset information formerly reported under the Wealth-tax return after repeal of the Wealth-tax Act; the schedule targets higher-income individuals and Hindu undivided families and is designed to record asset and liability particulars rather than net worth.