ITR 2026: 3 Capital Gains Mistakes That Trigger Notice

Filing ITR for AY 2026-27? If you sold shares, mutual funds, or ETFs this year, you must report every rupee of capital gains correctly — wrong form, wrong classification, or missing entries can land you a scrutiny notice from the Income Tax Department.

Here's what happened: AY 2026-27 ITR filing is open and taxpayers with equity, mutual fund, or ETF gains must report them under the correct capital gains schedule.. Short-term gains (held under 12 months for equity) are taxed at 20%; long-term gains above ₹1.25 lakh are taxed at 12.5% after the 2024 Budget changes.. The IT Department cross-checks your ITR against broker-reported data in Form 26AS and AIS — any mismatch triggers an automated notice..

What you should do: Download your AIS and Form 26AS from the income tax portal and match every capital gains entry against your broker's P&L statement before filing.. Choose ITR-2 if you are a salaried employee with capital gains — ITR-1 does not have a capital gains schedule and will be treated as a defective return.. Report only realised gains — do not include unrealised paper profits on shares or funds you still hold; those are not taxable until you sell..

Pro tip: Your broker's annual P&L PDF and the AIS on the tax portal often show different figures due to corporate actions like bonus shares or splits — reconcile both before entering any number in your ITR.

For readers weighing their credit and loan options, our personal loan guide and CIBIL score resources put this update in context.