The form is for all individuals, Hindu undivided family, firms and A O P. But it's not for corporate assessees, or persons claiming exemption under Section 11.

When it comes to filling the form, not much has changed. The assessee still has to compute the income from the various head of income and attach the calculation in the annexure to the form, which in turn means that the form acts as the summary sheet and the detail have to be made in the separate sheets attachedas annexures. The form when filled will not be a one page form but two to ten pages form, depending upon the nature of income. The form has to be filled in duplicate. One copy will be returned to the assessee after being duly acknowledged.

The form does not contain the option of giving the general index registration number. The assessees who have not been allotted the permanent account number may not be able to avail the facility to file this form since it will be incomplete in the absence of PAN.

The details which were earlier included in the form are now separately attached as instructions for filing up Saral, and if a person who is not aware of all the legal procedure of computation of income under various heads may end up paying more taxes or his form may be rejected as incomplete.

Today the assessee is more confused since there are more than six forms for filing returns and he is not aware about which form is the best for him.

The procedure of computation of income which was earlier included inthe return form is absent. A layman who is not update on the I T law and the computation procedure will find it more confusing to calculate the taxable income.

The department should reduce the number of forms and may divide these into two categories. One for the corporate assessee and another for the non-corporate assessee.

The procedure of computation of income under various heads needs to be simplified and standardised so that the assessee can easily compute the income under various heads and file his return.

The instructions for filling up the form should include examples and illustration of computing the income so that the assessee can check whether he has correctly filled up the form.

The procedure of assessments should be streamlined and the assessees earning income from other than businesses should be issued refund orders immediately. For businesses, a short time period should be specified.

The shift in the thinking and various tax friendly steps taken by the Income Tax department will surelyincrease the compliance system and also greatly benefit the tax payers who have stayed away from filing their returns due to the fear of being harassed.

The Jindals are Delhi-based chartered accountants