ITR-6 Preparation Checklist: Documents and Workings to Collect First
ITR-6 preparation is easier when the information pack is complete before data entry begins. Organise documents and assign each working to a responsible reviewer.
AI Summary
Scope: FY 2025-26 / AY 2026-27 under the Income-tax Act, 1961; use the AY-specific notified return, schema and validation rules. Verification date: 11 October 2026.
Confirm the return before opening the utility
ITR-6 for AY 2026-27 is the notified return for companies other than those claiming exemption under Section 11. Establish the company's status, reporting period, filing type and applicable tax regime before populating figures.
The return contains both financial and tax information. Importing the balance sheet is therefore only one stage of preparation. A complete file needs supporting computations, prior-year records and reconciled tax credits.
Collect five information packs
| Pack | Documents and workings |
|---|---|
| Identity and filing | PAN, CIN, address, authorised signatory, prior acknowledgements and filing-type basis |
| Financials | Approved balance sheet, P&L, notes, TB and supporting schedules |
| Tax computation | Regime assessment, adjustment register, depreciation and relevant income schedules |
| Losses and credits | Prior returns/orders, loss tracker, tax-payment details and TDS reconciliation |
| Connected reports | Applicable audit/other reports and their acknowledgements or status |
Give each pack an owner and status. Distinguish “received” from “reviewed”: a spreadsheet supplied by a client may still contain unverified openings or outdated formulas.
Reconcile before entering the return
Agree the return's financial data with approved statements, using the required units and classification. Keep a bridge from book profit to taxable income. Review depreciation, disallowances, applicable deductions, losses and MAT separately where relevant.
Obtain AIS, TIS and Form 26AS and reconcile relevant information with books and evidence. Match advance/self-assessment tax payments by reference and period. Do not treat a prefilled value as proof that it is the amount legally reportable or creditable.
A practical preparation sequence
Assume a fictional company has approved profit before tax of ₹40 lakh. Its adjustment register identifies additions of ₹5 lakh and deductions of ₹2 lakh, giving ₹43 lakh before other applicable adjustments. The return preparer should obtain the supporting rows, not simply enter ₹43 lakh because the tax computation summary shows that figure.
Next agree the loss working and tax-credit file. If a TDS credit is missing or a prior-year loss differs from the assessment order, resolve or document the issue before finalising the return. This prevents a late mismatch from forcing changes across several connected schedules.
Keep the tax regime evidence
Confirm the regime actually chosen and the relevant option-form history where required. A lower displayed rate is not sufficient reason to change a regime field. Eligibility, restrictions and prior actions must be assessed together.
Retain the reviewer-approved position with the file. Where the company changed structure, ownership or business activity, revisit connected consequences rather than relying on last year's selection.
Validation is one control, not the whole review
Use the current AY utility/schema and address validation errors. Then perform a human review of names, year, financial totals, tax computation, credit claims and disclosures. A technically valid JSON can still contain the wrong client or an unsupported amount.
Review the final return preview before submission. Confirm the signatory and applicable verification method, and retain the submitted file, acknowledgement and verification evidence. Record the final filing status; saving a draft is not the same as filing and completing verification.
Where assureOffice fits
Approved financials from assureOffice's Schedule 3 financial builder can form the financial pack. Any supported draft export should be checked against the target utility and final return. Keep the financials account and any separate tax application workflow clear; an import is preparation assistance, not an automatic filing conclusion.
Prepare a pre-filing exception list
Give each unresolved issue an owner, evidence request and proposed resolution. Typical items include a missing tax challan, an unexplained prior loss, an unapproved adjustment or a report acknowledgement not yet available. Review the list before filing rather than allowing unfinished assumptions to disappear into the utility.
After changes are approved, refresh connected schedules and review the final computation again. A corrected depreciation amount can affect taxable income, losses and tax liability. Retain the final reviewed dataset and note the utility/schema version used. This makes later queries easier to answer than a folder containing several undated return drafts.
Related articles
- AIS, TIS and Form 26AS Do Not Match the Books: How to Reconcile Them
- Brought-forward Losses and Unabsorbed Depreciation: Building the ITR Working
- Normal Corporate Tax vs MAT: Understanding the Two Computations