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Getting ITR-ready: the family data & document checklist

· 4 min read
The Sahidha team
Building Sahidha in the open

Filing season always feels worse than it is — not because the form is hard, but because the data is scattered across six banks, three brokers, two insurers and a shoebox of receipts. Get the data in order first, and the return almost fills itself.

Here's the checklist we use, in the order that actually works.

caution

This is general educational information, not tax advice. Tax rules change with each Finance Act — verify current-year figures and your specific situation with a qualified professional or the official source (incometax.gov.in).

1. Pin down the year you're filing​

In India the financial year (FY) runs April–March, and you file the following assessment year (AY). So returns filed in mid-2026 are for FY 2025–26 (income earned 1 Apr 2025 – 31 Mar 2026), assessed in AY 2026–27. Everything below is "for that FY."

2. Gather your income, head by head​

Indian tax sorts income into five heads. Collect the proof for each you have:

  • Salary — Form 16 from each employer; the breakup of allowances.
  • House Property — rent received, municipal taxes paid, home-loan interest certificate.
  • Capital Gains — broker/AMC capital-gains statements for shares, mutual funds; sale deeds for property; records for gold/other assets.
  • Business/Profession — books, receipts, expense records.
  • Other Sources — bank/FD interest, savings interest, dividends.

(If you're unsure what belongs where, see our companion piece on the five heads of income.)

3. Pull every statement — and reconcile​

This is the step most people skip and then regret. Download:

  • Bank statements for all accounts for the full FY.
  • Credit-card statements (for spends you'll claim or cross-check).
  • Interest certificates (savings, FD, RD) — banks issue these annually.
  • Capital-gains statements from each broker and AMC.

Then reconcile your own records against the tax department's view — your AIS (Annual Information Statement) and Form 26AS. Mismatches here are the single biggest cause of notices. We wrote a full guide: AIS vs 26AS vs your books.

4. Collect your deduction proofs​

Whatever regime you choose (see old vs new regime), keep the evidence for anything you intend to claim:

  • Life and health insurance premium receipts.
  • Tax-saving investment proofs (ELSS, PPF, EPF, NPS, etc.).
  • Tuition fees, home-loan principal, donations, and so on.

5. Don't forget the easy-to-miss items​

  • Interest on savings accounts (yes, even small amounts).
  • Dividends (now taxable in the investor's hands).
  • Interest from FDs/RDs even if TDS was deducted.
  • Capital gains on debt funds, gold, or property sold during the year.
  • Foreign income/assets, if any (these have strict disclosure rules).

6. Reconcile bank transfers so nothing looks like "income"​

A subtle trap: money you moved between your own accounts (say HDFC → ICICI) is not income — but if you're eyeballing a statement, it can look like a fresh credit. Make sure your records treat self-transfers as transfers, not income, so your totals are honest before you hand anything to your CA.

7. Build the final pack for filing (or your CA)​

You want one tidy bundle:

  • Income summary by head.
  • Capital-gains summary (short-term vs long-term).
  • Deduction proofs.
  • AIS/26AS reconciliation notes.
  • Bank-interest and dividend totals.

How Sahidha helps​

Sahidha is built to make exactly this checklist painless:

  • Import your bank and card statements (PDF/CSV) instead of typing them.
  • Auto-detect transfers between your own accounts, so self-transfers never inflate your income.
  • Capital-gains report per FY — realised and unrealised — ready to hand to your CA.
  • Income & Expenditure and net-worth reports scoped to the Indian FY, with category-to-ITR-head mapping.
  • Export any report to CSV/PDF for your filing pack.

The point of bookkeeping through the year is that March stops being a scramble.

👉 Sahidha is in the making — try it at sahidha.com and tell us what your family's tax prep needs that no tool has gotten right.

Educational information only, not tax advice. Verify all figures and your own situation against the latest rules.