Does the January 2020 income-tax note still decide the return?
No. The January 2020 note does not decide a return for assessment year 2026-27. It recorded two things that were open at the start of 2020: a section 195 application that then had no prescribed form, and who could use ITR-1 for the financial year 2019-20. Both have been overtaken.
What did the note record?
Section 195 requires tax to be deducted from a sum chargeable to tax that is paid to a non-resident or a foreign company. Where the payer considers that the whole sum is not chargeable, subsection (2) lets the payer ask the Assessing Officer to determine the portion. In January 2020 that request was still being made on plain paper, with no standard form.
The same note set out who could use ITR-1 for FY 2019-20, after the tax department restored joint owners of one house and people covered by the seventh proviso to section 139(1) to that form. That restoration was for that year’s form. It is not a standing list for every later year.
How is section 195 applied for now?
The application under section 195(2) or section 195(7) is Form 15E. It is filed electronically. The Assessing Officer determines the portion of the sum on which tax is deducted. A letter on plain paper is not the application. The deduction itself, where the sum is chargeable and no such order covers it, is still made under section 195(1).
Who uses ITR-1 now?
ITR-1 is the return for a resident individual whose total income is up to ₹50 lakh and comes from salary, one house property, and other sources, within the limits the current form states. A directorship, unlisted equity shares, and foreign assets take the person out of it. The full test is on the ITR-1 page. The FY 2019-20 list, including its travel and electricity figures, is not copied forward as this year’s instruction.
Which form follows which person is on the ITR forms page.
Where are this year’s rates?
The January 2020 note did not set the slabs for FY 2025-26. Those rates, and the rebate up to ₹12 lakh of income taxed at normal rates, are on the Budget 2025 page. A later Finance Act is read on the page that states it. This note is not a list of every amendment since 2020.
Frequently asked questions
Four questions cover a plain-paper application, the old ITR-1 limits, this year’s slabs, and later amendments.
Is a plain-paper letter the section 195 application?
No. The application under section 195(2) or 195(7) is Form 15E, filed electronically. The Assessing Officer then determines the portion on which tax is deducted.
Do the FY 2019-20 ITR-1 limits still apply?
No. That year’s form instruction is closed. The current test is on the ITR-1 page, including the ₹50 lakh income limit and the income it can contain.
Did the note set this year’s slabs?
No. It did not set slabs for FY 2025-26. Those rates are the Budget 2025 new-regime slabs.
Is every later amendment on this page?
No. This page only says what the January 2020 note can no longer be used for. A later change is on the page that states that change.
Sources
The January 2020 note is not the current instruction. Form 15E is the section 195 application. ITR-1 follows the form now notified.