Widening its net to check generation of black money, the Income Tax department has introduced significant changes in the income tax return form for AY assessment year 2015-16. Taxpayers will now have to disclose  instances of foreign travel, details of theirbank accounts in the country along with usage of balance in capital gain accountschemes.

Relief obtained on account of tax treaties will also need to be mentioned in the returns for 2015-16.

In the new income tax return (ITR) form, any individual with an Aadhaar number will have to mention it and will have to mandatorily produce tax residency certificate (TRC), hitherto required only if asked by the assessing officer.


The new ITR forms, including ITR-1 and ITR-2, require an assessee to furnish the number of bankaccounts held by the individual “at any time (including opened/closed) during the previous year” with the last balance in his or her account on March 31 of the justconcluded fiscal.

The assessee will also have to furnish the name of the bank, account number/numbers, its address, IFSC code and any possible joint account holder.

With regards to foreign travel, the tax department wants the assessee’s passport number, place of issue of passport, countries visited, number of times such journeys were made, and in case of a resident taxpayer, the expenses incurred from “own sources in relation to such travel”. (The Indian Express)