New ITR Forms for AY 2026-27: Key Changes Explained

Filing Deadline Stays the Same

Despite the structural changes, the due date for filing ITR for AY 2026-27 depends on the ITR form: 31 July 2026 for ITR-1/ITR-2 (no business/professional income), and 31 August 2026 for non-audit ITR-3/ITR-4 filers (business/professional income). Audit cases and other categories continue to follow their usual extended deadlines (typically 31 October and beyond, subject to any CBDT extension notifications closer to the deadline).

Change 1: ITR-1 (Sahaj) Now Covers Two House Properties

This is the most significant change for salaried taxpayers and pensioners. Previously, anyone owning more than one house property — even a single self-occupied home plus one let-out flat — had to file the more complex ITR-2 or ITR-3. From AY 2026-27, ITR-1 has been expanded to allow income reporting from up to two house properties, as long as the other ITR-1 eligibility conditions (total income up to ₹50 lakh, no capital gains beyond the specified limited cases, no business/professional income, etc.) are met.

This is expected to move a meaningful number of taxpayers — particularly those who took a second home loan or inherited a second property — back into the simpler ITR-1/ITR-4 filing pathway instead of ITR-2.

Change 2: New Field for Unrealised Rent

The updated forms add a dedicated field to report 'the amount of rent which cannot be realized' — i.e., rent that was due from a tenant but could not be collected (and which is deductible from rental income under the house property provisions). Previously, this had to be computed and reported in a less explicit manner; the new explicit field reduces ambiguity and computation errors for landlords with rent-default situations.

Change 3: Regime Choice — Expanded Disclosure for Business Income Taxpayers

The forms now contain more detailed disclosure requirements around opting in and out of the new tax regime, particularly for taxpayers with business or professional income who must file Form 10-IEA to opt for the old regime. The expanded fields are intended to make the regime election process — and any changes to it across years — more transparent and auditable, reducing instances of mismatched regime claims between the ITR and Form 10-IEA filings.

Change 4: Capital Gains Reporting — Old STCG/LTCG Equity Rate Fields Removed

One subtle but important change: the old capital gains rates applicable to listed equity securities — 15% short-term capital gains (STCG) under the erstwhile Section 111A and 10% long-term capital gains (LTCG) under the erstwhile Section 112A — are no longer applicable for gains arising in FY 2025-26 (these rates were revised in an earlier Finance Act to 20% STCG and 12.5% LTCG with a higher exemption threshold, effective from a prior date). The corresponding old-rate fields have been removed from all relevant ITR forms for AY 2026-27, since they're not relevant to the gains being reported.

Additional new reporting requirements cover long-term capital losses and gains/losses arising from share buyback transactions — an area that has seen increasing scrutiny as companies have used buybacks more frequently as a method of returning capital to shareholders.

Quick Reference: Which Form for Whom (AY 2026-27)

What This Means for Your Filing

If you've historically filed ITR-2 purely because you owned two house properties (e.g., your self-occupied home plus a small inherited flat) and otherwise meet ITR-1's other conditions, check whether you can now move to ITR-1 for AY 2026-27 — it's a meaningfully simpler form. If you have rental income with collection issues, make sure to use the new unrealised-rent field rather than manually adjusting your rental income figure. And if you switched tax regimes in FY 2025-26, double-check that your Form 10-IEA filing (if applicable) and your ITR's regime declaration are consistent under the expanded disclosure fields.