But the form has already become a difficult proposition. After the announcement, it was pointed out that when an assessee fills the form, he has to attach many additional documents in support of his claim, which implies that the so-called one page format automatically becomes a 10-page form with the appended paperwork. The details of all the allowances, deductions and exemptions were to be separately computed and attached to make a claim of deduction.

To rectify this discrepancy and further simplify the form, the CBDT member (legislation) has announced that the provisions for annexures contained in the draft format, providing evidence of theassessee's claim, would not be there in the final format.

The notification regarding the final format of Saral is likely to be finalised within the next fortnight. The draft format will be a single sheet form and will require the assessee to file the details of his income from salary, house property or profession, income from capital gains and income from other sources. After that, the assessee has to provide the figure of deduction, taxable income and rebate claimed, total tax payment and details of pre-paid taxes and balance tax payable/refund due. The form is meant only for individual assessees and not for companies or firms.

Due to the delay in the second draft of the form, two additional measures have been announced:

Extension of date for filing of returns: The government has decided to extend the last date for filing returns for salaried tax-payers and assessees, who are supposed to file the return by June 30, 1998, and August 31, 1998, for the assessment year 1998-99, to September 30,1998. This has been done because Saral could not be brought out on time, as promised by the finance minister. Thus, in order to give more time to the assessees to enable them to file the returns in the new and simpler form, the date for filing the return has been extended.

Extension of date for filing application for PAN: The government has also extended the last date for filing applications for the allotment of PAN to August 31, 1998; previously, this date was June 30, 1998. Taking note of numerous representations from various quarters, the ministry has decided to extend the last date for every person who is assessed or liable to be assessed in respect of assessment years, 1997-98 and 1998-99.

It is hoped that the new form will remain saral not only till the last date of filing the form, but also when it comes to the assessment of income by assessing officers and that there will be no undue harassment and unnecessary paperwork.

The Jindals are Delhi-based chartered accountants