Income tax is levied on individual taxpayers on the basis of a slab system. The government made no changes in the income tax structure in the recent Budget.

There are three categories of individual taxpayers- individuals (below the age of 60 years) which includes residents as well as non-residents, resident senior citizens (60 years and above but below 80 years of age) and resident super senior citizens (above 80 years of age).

Any individual having an annual income of Rs 2.5 lakh or more have to compulsorily file income tax returns. For senior citizens (individuals between 60 years and 80 years of age), the limit is Rs 3 lakh, and for very senior citizens (aged above 80 years), the limit is Rs 5 lakh, according to the taxman.

The forms for filing of income tax return are known as ITR-1, ITR-2, ITR-3, ITR-4, ITR-5, ITR-6 and ITR-7.

This time, the income tax department has introduced pre-filled ITR (Income Tax Return) forms for certain class of taxpayers. The department is providing pre-filled ITR-1, ITR-2, ITR-3 and ITR-4 forms available for download as XML files. These pre-filled forms contain details of income and taxes paid by assessees during the year.

The tax department has, however, advised the taxpayers to verify the pre-filled data carefully and add any other taxable income which is not pre-filled.

In the recent Budget, government announced "interchangeability of PAN and Aadhaar".This means that who do not have PAN (Permanent Account Number) card can file income tax returns by quoting their Aadhaar number.

After filing ITR, users are also required to verify it. Income Tax Department provides five ways for verification of an ITR: Aadhaar OTP, bank ATM, bank account, demat account and net banking.

The Income Tax (I-T) Department also enables income tax assessees to check the status of their ITR online through its e-filing portal, incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in