This is a season where you will see everyone talking about the income tax. The last date for filing the income tax is 31st July. So whatever you have earned in the financial year 2023-24, you have to pay tax and thus you have to file that tax now. As a salaried employee, we don't have to do many tasks as the tax is automatically been cut by the employer. But since we invest in the Stock Market too, we have to get all the capital gains and related information and file our income tax.
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I usually file my income tax by a Chartered Accountant who goes through all my documents and then files the income tax on my behalf. As of today, I have shared all the information with him and thus I am hopeful that he will file early and I will be done way before the deadline. Also even if you don't have to pay any tax, it is a good idea to file the taxes. This is because when you are taking any loans whether home or personal loan they ask for the last 3 years of returns and that's why it is good to file your returns.
It is also a way for you to be clean because then no one can make allegations later on that you have not paid any taxes and what not. Say by chance your PAN is leaked and someone using your PAN to show any fraudulent transactions, then it is up to you to pay that tax. So to keep yourself clean of any of these fraudulent transactions you can file your returns and tell the government that this is what you have earned for the whole year.
So when your salary is quite low, you can file the NIL returns which means you are exempt from paying any tax to the government and in that way telling the government about your total yearly income. Keep in mind that it is not mandatory to file your returns if your tax liability is zero, but it is good for your future if you file your returns today.
The money you will be getting after a few years might be very much more than what you are earning today. So keep yourself clean from the start and thus do not go for any fraudulent activities. There are some visa applications are also need your past ITR and thus filing the nil returns is good for those also. Also if you had losses in the stock market then you can carry forward that loss to the next year or the year when you are in taxable income.
