Salaried employees who trade or invest in the share market cannot file the standard ITR-1 form. Your choice between ITR-2 and ITR-3 for Assessment Year (AY) 2026-27 (Financial Year 2025-26) depends entirely on the nature of your stock market transactions.

Filing the wrong form or omitting trades will trigger a tax mismatch notice because all equity transactions are auto-reported to the tax department via the Annual Information Statement (AIS).

Your form is determined by how the Income Tax Department classifies your stock market activities: [

• Applicability: You only buy and hold stocks or Mutual Funds for delivery (Short-Term or Long-Term Capital Gains).
• Income Type: Classified as Capital Gains.
• Due Date: 31st July 2026.

• Applicability: You engage in Intraday Trading or Futures & Options (F&O).
• Income Type: Treated legally as Business Income (Speculative for Intraday, Non-Speculative for F&O).
• Due Date: 31st August 2026 (Extended for non-audit business cases starting from this assessment year). 

Your stock market gains are taxed under specific headers depending on the holding period and transaction type:

• Form 16: From your employer for your salary breakdown.
• Capital Gains Statement: Downloaded from your stockbroker (e.g., Zerodha, Groww, AngelOne) for the exact buy/sell execution values.
• AIS / TIS: Downloaded from the Income Tax Portal to match equity sales with government records.

• Fill in the Schedule Salary section using details directly from your Form 16.

• If using ITR-2: Navigate to Schedule CG (Capital Gains). Enter quarterly breakdowns of your short-term and long-term capital gains to map advance tax calculations accurately.
• If using ITR-3: Enter F&O or Intraday turnover and profits under Schedule BP (Business or Profession). You can claim expenses like brokerage, internet charges, and subscription tools against this business income.

• Declare all stock dividends received in Schedule OS (Income from Other Sources).

• Always report negative balances in Schedule CYLA and Schedule BFLA. Short-term capital losses can offset short-term or long-term capital gains, while business losses (F&O) can offset other business incomes. You can carry forward these unadjusted stock losses for up to 8 years.

• Ignoring No-Profit Years: You must report your stock market transactions even if you incurred a net loss. If you fail to file, you lose the legal right to carry forward those losses to save tax next year.
• Form Mismatch: Do not use ITR-1 if you sold even a single share during the financial year. The system will automatically reject the filing or issue a defect notice.

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