After Saral became not so easy for the salaried class, its now the turn of self employed doctors, engineers, chartered accountants and other professionals to face the income-tax blues.

The tax returns form for these people has expanded from a five-page affair to a 20-page business. They have been given a breather till October 31 to fill up the new forms, with the government extending the last date from July 31. Experts say while the effort of the government has been to make the income tax returns compact, but in the process they have made it lengthy and cumbersome.

The new forms especially for the non-corporates having business income, is a very lengthy one. In fact, the new forms are detailed asking for lot of information and could be cumbersome for the one filing. People generally prefer simple forms, said Rajiv Tiwari, senior associate, Titus and Company.

However, he said the forms are designed to reveal a greater degree of information to government about the cashflow of taxpayers and could help in higher collections.

Echoing similar views, Ravi Prakash, Principal Consultant, PricewaterhouseCoopers said instead of implementing the forms from this year, the government should have implemented them only from next year. They should have taken some more time and invited comments from the public instead of implementing it this year.

He also wondered as to how a taxpayer who is not required to enclose any document with the return form would make dislosures or notes related to the income computation. Also, he said, one is not required to enclose any tax withholding certificate or Balance sheet/report, alongwith the new return forms.