ITR-2 for AY 2026-27: New FAQ Clarifies Two Self-Occupied Houses, Secondary Address and Revised-Return Fee
The Income Tax Department's ITR-2 FAQs on the e-filing portal set out the reporting changes in ITR-2 for Assessment Year 2026-27. The return covers income of the financial year 2025-26, which is still assessed under the Income-tax Act, 1961; the Income-tax Act, 2025 governs income from tax year 2026-27 onwards. The changes touch house property, contact details, deduction schedules, capital gains and the fee for late revised returns, so a return prepared by copying last year's workings may fail validation or misreport income.
Who files ITR-2
According to the FAQs, ITR-2 is for individuals, resident or non-resident, and Hindu Undivided Families who do not have income chargeable under the head "Profits and Gains of Business or Profession". It covers income from salary or pension, house property, short-term and long-term capital gains, other sources, and agricultural income above ₹5,000.
- There is no income ceiling. The form can be used "irrespective of the quantum of total income, including cases where total income exceeds ₹50 lakhs".
- An individual who is a director in a company, or who held unlisted equity shares at any time during the previous year, must file ITR-2 (or another applicable form), not ITR-1.
- A person with business or professional income, including interest, salary, bonus or commission from a firm taxable under that head, cannot use ITR-2.
Two self-occupied houses
The FAQs state that from AY 2026-27, "the specified conditions for treating two houses or part thereof as self-occupied property i.e. either if owner uses for his own residence or cannot occupy it due to reason of his business, profession or employment has been removed". Earlier, a second house could be treated as self-occupied only if the owner lived in it or could not occupy it because of work elsewhere.
Taxpayers who own two residential properties should therefore revisit the house property schedule instead of treating one house as deemed let-out by default. The computation must still follow the actual facts of each property, including any rent received.
Secondary address in Part A
A new field for a secondary address has been introduced in Part A (General Information). The taxpayer must answer whether the secondary address is the same as the primary address, and give the details if it is not. Preparers should confirm contact data with the client before final validation, because an incomplete Part A can hold up an otherwise finished return.
More detail for deduction claims
| Deduction | Details now required in ITR-2 |
|---|---|
| Sections 80DD and 80U | Nature and type of disability, type of dependent, amount of deduction, PAN or Aadhaar of the dependent and the acknowledgement number of Form 10-IA |
| Sections 80E, 80EE, 80EEA and 80EEB | Loan taken from, name of the institution, loan account number, date of sanction, total loan amount, loan outstanding and interest amount |
| Section 80GG | Form 10-BA must be filed before the return is submitted |
| Section 80G | Transaction reference number and IFS code of the bank for the donation |
Collecting loan statements, disability certificates and Form 10-IA acknowledgements, rent details for Form 10-BA and donation payment references before starting the schedules saves repeated back-and-forth with clients.
Capital gains reporting
The FAQs confirm that "the requirement to report capital gains based on date of transfer as before and after 23rd July 2024 has been removed from AY 2026-27". That split was needed in the previous year because capital gains rates changed from 23 July 2024. The FAQs add that the short-term and long-term capital gains rates in the form have been modified. Broker statements and earlier-year utilities may still carry the old date-based classification, so data should be mapped afresh to the current schedule.
Revised returns and the section 234I fee
The ITR-1 FAQs state: "From AY 2026-27 onwards, the due date for filing revised return has been extended up to the end of AY i.e., 31st March of the relevant AY." For AY 2026-27, a revised return can therefore be filed up to 31 March 2027.
A revised return filed after 31 December and up to 31 March attracts an additional fee under section 234I. The ITR-2 FAQs describe this as a fee "applicable from AY 2026-27 onwards":
| Total income | Fee under section 234I |
|---|---|
| Up to ₹5 lakh | ₹1,000 |
| Above ₹5 lakh | ₹5,000 |
The fee is separate from any late fee or interest arising from delay in filing the original return. Taxpayers who spot an error should revise before 31 December to avoid it.
Checklist before filing
- Confirm there is no business or professional income that would require ITR-3.
- Review whether both residential properties can be shown as self-occupied under the AY 2026-27 rules.
- Complete the secondary-address question in Part A.
- Gather loan, disability, rent and donation particulars for the deduction schedules.
- Map capital gains to the current schedule without the 23 July 2024 split.
- Reconcile Form 26AS, AIS, Form 16 and capital gains statements.
- If a revision is needed, file it before 31 December to avoid the section 234I fee.
Updated on 28 September 2026: added the official ITR-2 and ITR-1 FAQ links, quoted the exact wording on self-occupied houses, capital gains and section 234I, set out the new deduction fields in a table and noted that AY 2026-27 income remains under the Income-tax Act, 1961.
