Choosing how to prepare your income tax return depends on what is actually in your return. A straightforward salary return may need nothing more than the Income Tax portal. Capital gains spread across brokers and mutual funds may need reconciliation before the return can be filed safely. Business income, foreign income or complex disclosures may need broader software or professional help.
Klaro is built for self-filers whose hard part is reconciling the numbers behind an ITR-2 or ITR-3 computation, particularly capital gains reported across AIS, broker and mutual-fund statements. It prepares the computation; you enter the figures and file.
The comparison
✓ suits this situation, ~ possible with caveats, ✗ not supported
| Your situation | Income Tax portal | Klaro | Full-service filing software | Chartered accountant |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salary and simple interest Complete Form 16, uncomplicated AIS | Usually enough, and free | Probably unnecessary | Works, at a cost | Usually unnecessary |
| Capital gains from one broker A small number of straightforward trades | Possible; you reconcile manually | Works, check whether you need it | Works | Works |
| Capital gains across brokers, fund houses and AIS Several sources reporting overlapping transactions | Manual reconciliation, on you | What Klaro is built for | Varies by platform and plan | Works |
| AIS and broker figures do not match Or an AIS row disagrees with itself | You investigate it | Reconciles supported sources, flags contradictory rows | Varies | Works |
| Pre-2018 holdings, quarter-wise gains, loss set-off Grandfathering, 234B and 234C, set-off ordering | Manual | Computed, with the reasoning shown | Varies | Works |
| House-property income Let-out, self-occupied, deemed let-out, home-loan interest | Manual | Supported computation | Works | Works |
| Property sale (land or building) Capital gain on a house or plot | Manual | Capital gains computed, s.112 comparison and s.50C | Varies | Works |
| Brought-forward losses from earlier years Carried forward and set off this year | Manual | Computed, producing Schedule CFL | Varies | Works |
| You want the return filed for you Approve rather than transcribe | You file it yourself | Klaro never files | The core offering | Works |
| Business or professional income ITR-3 territory | ITR-3 workflow available | Accepts a business figure you declare and forks to ITR-3; does not compute the profit or prepare Schedule BP | Works | Works |
| Foreign assets or foreign income Schedule FA, foreign tax credit | Manual, and complex | Schedule FA disclosure supported; foreign income and foreign tax credit not computed | Varies | Strong option |
| Unlisted shares, or a buyback Holdings or corporate actions Klaro refuses | Manual | Not supported; a buyback is detected and refused | Varies | Works |
| A notice, a dispute, or audit-level complexity Anywhere you want someone accountable to you | Assisted plans | The right answer |
How to read this
Two things the table implies that most comparison pages will not say out loud.
First, most filers should not pay for Klaro. A salary return is well served by the portal, free; a return with business income, foreign income or a property sale that needs more than a capital-gains computation is better served by a platform or a chartered accountant. Klaro earns its ₹299 on one narrow, specific job.
Second, the rows where Klaro is the best fit are narrow and specific: capital gains reported by more than one source, and figures that do not agree with each other. That is also why the computation is free to see in full. If the reconciliation does not surface anything worth ₹299 on your return, you will know before paying, because the whole thing is on screen first.
Common questions
- Can I file ITR-2 without a CA?
- Yes, many taxpayers do. The difficulty is usually not selecting the form but correctly calculating and reconciling capital gains, house-property income and the other schedules. A chartered accountant becomes more valuable when the return contains transactions or disclosures that require professional judgment, or that fall outside what your software supports.
- What is the best option for investors with multiple brokers?
- Investors using several brokers or fund platforms first need to reconcile transactions across broker reports, AMC or RTA statements and the AIS, so that a sale reported by more than one source is counted once rather than twice. Klaro is designed specifically around that reconciliation. Full-service software and chartered accountants also handle it; coverage and workflow vary by provider.
- Is the Income Tax portal enough on its own?
- For a straightforward salary-and-interest return with complete Form 16 and AIS data, the portal’s own prefill is often sufficient, and it is free. Multiple employers, ESOPs, capital gains across sources, or deductions needing interpretation can change that. Whatever you use, verify prefilled figures against your own documents, and see why an AIS figure can be wrong.
- Does Klaro file my income tax return?
- No. Klaro prepares and explains the supported computation, and maps each figure to the portal screen and field it belongs in. You review the numbers, enter them, and file. Klaro never uses your portal password or one-time password.
- When should I use a CA instead of software?
- Where the return needs tax judgment or calculations the software does not support, such as business-income computation, foreign income and relief, or specialised disclosures, and anywhere you want a professional accountable to you. Software computes; it does not advise or represent you.
What this means for your return: pick by job. A straightforward salary return, or any return that needs filing done for you or a schedule Klaro refuses, points to the portal, a platform, or a CA. Multi-source ITR-2 or ITR-3 capital gains you want reconciled and verified before filing point to Klaro, free to see first.
- Income Tax Department e-filing portal, return forms, prefill and filing
- Income Tax Department, AIS: Annual Information Statement
- Income Tax Department, FAQs on AIS
General information for AY 2026-27, not advice on your specific facts. Form applicability follows the Income-tax Act, 1961 and CBDT’s return-form notifications for the year; check the current year’s forms before deciding. Statements about full-service software and chartered accountants describe those categories generally; individual providers differ.
Klaro prepares an ITR-2 and ITR-3 computation for individual residents: capital gains, salary, house property and other sources, both regimes side by side. It does not compute business profit or Schedule BP; you declare that figure. It does not handle foreign income and foreign tax credit, unlisted shares or buybacks, and it does not file your return.
See what your return contains, free
Multi-source capital gains? See the whole computation on screen, every supported transaction reconciled and counted once, before you decide what you need.
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