ITR-4 now allows two house properties — most articles haven't caught up

For years, one rule tripped up freelancers who bought a second home: more than one house property meant no ITR-4. You kept your simple presumptive taxation, but filing jumped to the long ITR-3 — for no reason other than a second address.

That rule is gone.

What changed

CBDT Notification 45/2026 (30 March 2026) amended the ITR-1 and ITR-4 eligibility for AY 2026-27: taxpayers with up to two house properties can now use the simple forms. The change aligns the forms with the Finance Act 2025, which lets you treat two self-occupied houses as nil-value (previously one).

So a presumptive freelancer with a flat in the city and a family house in their hometown — the single most common two-house situation in India — stays on ITR-4.

Who still gets pushed to ITR-3

The rest of the disqualifier list stands. A third house property, income above ₹50 lakh, unlisted shares, a directorship, foreign assets (including money parked in a Payoneer/Wise receiving account), capital gains beyond the small 112A window, brought-forward losses — any one of these still means ITR-3.

Run your own situation through our ITR-4 vs ITR-3 decider — it applies the current, post-notification rules.

Why this matters more than it looks

Most tax articles on the internet were written before 30 March 2026 and still say “more than one house property disqualifies you.” Follow them and you’ll file a longer form than the law requires — or worse, assume you’re ineligible for the simple form and pay a preparer for complexity you don’t have.

This is exactly the trap of reading tax content without a date on it. Every page on this site carries a “last verified” date for that reason.

The one-minute takeaway

• Two houses + presumptive income = ITR-4 is fine (AY 2026-27 onward).
• Three or more = ITR-3.
• The two nil-value self-occupied houses rule (Finance Act 2025) and this form change are two halves of the same reform.
• When in doubt, check all fourteen conditions — it takes a minute.