The tax department linked the changes in the utilities forms for FY2024-25 as a major reason for the delay in the release of these utilities.

ITR Filing 2025: The income tax department has released the Excel-based utilities for ITR forms 2 and 3 after a delay, allowing eligible taxpayers to complete their tax duties before the deadline. The utilities for forms 1 and 4 were already released a month and a half ago. With this, all major utilities from forms 1, 2, 3 and 4 are now working on the income tax portal.

The income tax department has already extended the deadline for tax filing for FY2024-25 (assessment year FY2025-26) to September 15, 2025 from July 31, 2025. The tax department linked the changes in the utilities forms for FY2024-25 as a major reason for the delay in the release of these utilities, leading to the extension of the deadline for this filing year.

 There are some major changes in ITR-2 form, which is applicable for those who earn a salary or have non-business or professional income as well as those with crypto, capital gains and other types of income.

1. Capital Loss Reporting On Share Buyback: A new row has been added to Schedule CG – A(A) to report capital losses from payments made by a company to its shareholders for buyback of its own shares, as per Section 68 of the Companies Act, 2013. These capital losses are now allowed, provided the related dividend income is reported under ‘Income from Other Sources’.
2. Disclosure of Dividend Income: A new row has been added to Form ITR-2 to capture dividend income arising under Section 2(22)(f), specifically proceeds received by shareholders from the buyback of shares.
3. Real Estate Transfer: Resident individuals must now provide separate details for the cost of acquisition and improvement for transfers of land and buildings executed before 23rd July 2024 and on or after this date in the ITR-2 Form. This change enables the application of indexation benefits for such transactions.
4. Enhanced Asset and Liability reporting threshold: Taxpayers with a total income exceeding Rs 1 crore are now required to report all assets and liabilities as of the last day of the financial year, an increase from the previous threshold of Rs 50 lakh.
5. Capital Gains Reporting: Due to the Finance Act 2024, effective from July 23, 2024, capital gains tax rates have changed. To ensure accurate reporting and compliance, separate columns have been added to Form ITR-2 to distinguish between capital gains realized before and on or after July 23, 2024. Gains from transactions executed before this date will be taxed at the old rates, while gains realized on or after will follow the revised tax rates.
6. TDS Schedule Update: A new column has been added to Schedule TDS in Form ITR-2 to specify the relevant Section code under which tax has been deducted at source for the assessee.