ITR 2025: Salaried taxpayers must be aware of these 7 key points before filing their income tax return

ITR 2025: The income tax return (ITR) filing season is back and taxpayers are busy arranging documents for filing of their return. Here, we list out top 7 things that salaried taxpayers should be aware of as they go through the maze.
These key points include the reasons which influence the choice of income tax regime, documents they need to procure, and tax return forms to submit. For instance, if a salaried taxpayer has accured capital gain income on account of stock market trading then s/he needs to file return via ITR-2 instead of ITR-1.
Let is understand this in more detail here.
1. Choosing tax regime: Taxpayers can choose the tax regime based on their investment history and their income level. However, they are supposed to inform their employer if they want to opt for the old tax regime. Else by default, new tax regime will be selected.
2. Form 16: One document that salaried taxpayers must procure from their employer is form 16 which shows the payment of TDS on behalf of employees paid by the employer.
3. Cross referencing information via 26AS: Taxpayer can cross verify the TDS information given on form 16 with that on form 26AS. It is a statement that provides details of any amount deducted as TDS or TCS from various sources of income of a taxpayer including salary and interest on savings & FDs.
4. Investment Vs tax saving: Just because you are not entitled to claim deduction on account of investing in certain tax saving instruments, it does not mean that you should not invest in those instruments.
There could still be a strong case for investing in financial instruments for the purpose of wealth creation with or without tax saving. These instruments could include PPF, SSY, KVP and NSC, among others.
5. HRA exemption: If you are entiled to claim significant exemption on account of HRA, you can file your tax return under the old tax regime. On the other hand, if you are not entiled to it, you – as a salaried taxpayer – may file your return under the new tax regime.
6. Investments in stocks: If salaried taxpayers are investing in stocks then they can file their income tax return (ITR) via ITR-2.
7. Income through house property: If a salaried taxpayer has income from one house property, they can file ITR-1 but if they have income from more than one house property, then they need to file ITR-2.
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