A common income tax return form may end up confusing taxpayers with very few exercising the option to migrate to the new system under which the government is proposing to club multiple forms into a single one.

The proposal has sent CAs and advisors into a tizzy even as there is an anticipation of a further rise in dependence on the assisted filing of returns.

Currently, there are seven income tax return forms — ITR1 to ITR 7 — and depending upon the type of person and the nature of income, a taxpayer has to select the appropriate tax return form.

The government has now proposed to introduce a common ITR merging all existing returns of income except ITR-7. A draft proposal has been floated and the CBDT has invited stakeholder comments by December 15.

At present, the ITR-1 Sahaj form, which is applicable for resident individuals having a total income below Rs 50 lakh, has around 21 basic questions before going to the computation of gross total income.

Under the proposed common return, there could be as many as 40 questions. The government’s logic for the change is to improve the ease of filing tax forms and reduce the time taken for filing returns.

“It intends the smart design of schedules in a user-friendly manner with a better arrangement, logical flow, and increased scope of pre-filing. It will also facilitate proper reconciliation of third party data available with income tax department vis a vis the data to be reported in the ITR to reduce the compliance burden on the taxpayers,” the CBDT said.

“The draft was rolled out on Tuesday and needs further study. But, there is a possibility that it could become cumbersome. Senior citizens may find it difficult because they may have to fill in more information,” Chandrashekhar Vasant Chitale, chairman, the direct tax committee, ICAI told The Telegraph.

Tax expert Narayan Jain said the government was supposed to make this a simple, painless experience. But it has done just the opposite. “The instructions run into 169 pages, which is voluminous and cumbersome.

There are as many as 40 questions that a taxpayer needs to answer. This pre-supposes that the taxpayer is aware of the intricate income tax provisions,” Jain added.

“The new common ITR form would be available in parallel to old forms in ITR-1 and ITR-4 and the assessees belonging to ITR-1 and ITR-4 categories, could choose to file old forms or the new. Taxpayers filing return of income in forms ITR-2, 3, 5 and 6 would not have an option to file the old forms, once the new common form and related utility are notified,” said Sandeep Jhunjhunwala, partner, Nangia Andersen LLP.