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ITR-4 or ITR-3? Tick and see.
Presumptive income usually means the short, simple ITR-4 — unless any one of fourteen conditions pushes you to the long ITR-3. Tick whatever applies to you; leave the rest blank.
What changed this year
- Two house properties now allowed: until last year one house was the ITR-4 limit; Notification 45/2026 (30 March 2026) raised it to two, matching the Finance Act 2025's two nil-value self-occupied houses. Most articles online still say one — they're outdated.
- Small LTCG stays in ITR-4: LTCG under s.112A up to ₹1.25 lakh no longer forces ITR-2/3 — provided you have no capital losses to set off or carry forward.
- New-Act forms are not out yet: the return forms for tax year 2026-27 (under the Income-tax Act 2025) haven't been notified — expected before the April 2027 filing season. This tool applies the AY 2026-27 rules under the 1961 Act, which is what you're filing now.
Worked example — the Payoneer trap
A presumptive freelancer earns ₹18 lakh, all from foreign clients, paid into a Payoneer receiving account and withdrawn to India monthly. Income-wise she is a clean ITR-4 case — but the balance held abroad between withdrawals is a foreign asset with signing authority, which ticks condition 4 and moves her to ITR-3 (with Schedule FA disclosure). Same tax, longer form — and skipping the disclosure is what actually causes trouble, not the tax.
Notes that keep you honest
- ITR-3 is not a penalty — it computes the same tax; it just asks more questions. When in doubt between forms, the longer form is always safe; the shorter one isn't.
- If you ticked the "not presumptive" condition, your real question is upstream — check your presumptive eligibility first.
- Salaried-only readers: with no business income at all, your choice is ITR-1 vs ITR-2, which this tool doesn't cover (yet).
Related tools
- Presumptive eligibility checker — the upstream question.
- Presumptive tax calculator — the number that goes in the form.
Last verified: 4 September 2026 — conditions cross-checked against the incometax.gov.in return-applicability guidance and CBDT Notification 45/2026 (two-house rule) · Reviewed with a practising CA's responses (2 September 2026) · Not tax advice.