India Tax Filing FAQ — Every Question You're Googling Right Now

It’s July. Rahul has had his Form 16 sitting in his inbox since June 1st. He knows he needs to file his ITR — everyone does, apparently. But every article he opens starts with “Step 1: Log into the e-filing portal” and by Step 4 he’s lost.

He doesn’t need a tutorial. He has questions. The kind you actually type into Google at 11pm: Does he even need to file? Which form? Can he still switch regimes? He paid too much TDS — will he get it back, and how long does it actually take?

This page answers those questions. FY 2025-26 rules, no filler.

Do I have to file an ITR?

For most salaried employees: yes, if your gross total income exceeds ₹2,50,000 in the financial year.

But there are also cases where you must file even if you’re below that threshold:

• You have a foreign bank account or foreign assets
• You deposited more than ₹1 crore in a savings or current account during the year
• You spent more than ₹2 lakh on foreign travel
• You paid more than ₹1 lakh in electricity bills in a year
• You want to carry forward a capital loss to future years

And the most common reason to file even when you don’t have to: you paid TDS and want it back. If your employer deducted tax at source but your actual tax liability is zero — or less than what was deducted — the only way to get that money back is to file and claim the refund.

If your income is below ₹2.5 lakh and you paid no TDS and have no foreign assets, you’re technically not required to file. But most practitioners suggest doing it anyway. It builds a paper trail, helps with visa applications and loan processing, and costs nothing.

Which ITR form should I use?

The four forms that cover almost every individual filer:

The most common mistake: filing ITR-1 when you sold mutual funds or ESOPs during the year. The moment you have capital gains — even ₹1 of long-term equity gains — you need ITR-2. Capital gains cannot be reported in ITR-1 at all.

If you’re a freelancer evaluating whether 44ADA makes sense, the Unpakk Freelance Calculator works through the breakeven and hidden costs.

My employer gave me Form 16. What do I do with it?

Form 16 has two parts and each does something different:

Part A is the TDS certificate. It shows how much TDS your employer deducted from your salary and deposited with the government. This is auto-verified against 26AS — what’s in Part A should match your 26AS exactly.

Part B is the salary breakup: gross salary, HRA, standard deduction, deductions you declared (80C, 80D, NPS), net taxable income, and the regime under which TDS was calculated.

When you file your ITR, Part B is essentially what you’re reproducing in the form. Most people find the e-filing portal pre-fills much of this from AIS — the job is to verify the pre-filled data matches your Form 16, not to re-enter everything from scratch.

If you changed jobs mid-year, you’ll have two Form 16s. Both matter. You need to combine the income from both employers when computing your total taxable income. If you didn’t inform your second employer about your first job’s income, your TDS might be short — check the combined number before filing.

What is AIS and why does it matter more than 26AS?

AIS (Annual Information Statement) is the more comprehensive statement the income tax department maintains about you. It has your salary income, TDS, interest income, dividend income, capital gains from broker-reported transactions, high-value bank deposits, foreign remittances, and mutual fund redemptions.

Why it matters: the tax department sees everything in your AIS — and their automated systems cross-check it against your filed return. If you received dividends but didn’t declare them, the AIS has it. If you sold shares and your broker reported the transaction (which is mandatory), the AIS has it. Mismatches between your AIS and your filed ITR trigger notices.

Before you start filing: go to incometax.gov.in → Login → AIS → Download. Check every line. If something looks wrong — an income entry you don’t recognise, a transaction you didn’t do — submit feedback through the portal to flag it. If it’s a legitimate income you forgot about, declare it.

26AS is now a subset of AIS. It mainly tracks TDS and TCS. Everything relevant is in AIS.

Should I use old or new tax regime? Can I still switch at filing?

Yes — you can switch at filing time regardless of what your employer used for TDS.

If your employer deducted TDS under the old regime (you submitted Form 12BAA at the start of the year), you can switch to the new regime when filing your ITR. If TDS was deducted under the new regime, you can switch to old — just claim all your deductions in the ITR, and the additional refund or shortfall is settled automatically.

The regime you file under doesn’t have to match what your employer used for TDS. The ITR calculates your actual liability under whichever regime you pick.

For the full math on which regime saves more at your income level — with break-even analysis from ₹8 lakh to ₹50 lakh and a worked example — read the Old vs New Regime guide. It has the exact deduction threshold you need to cross for old regime to win.

→ Or just run your numbers on Unpakk Salary — enter your CTC and toggle between regimes to see the rupee difference instantly.

What documents do I actually need to file?

You don’t submit documents with your ITR. Filing is a declaration — you keep the documents yourself in case of an assessment notice or audit.

What you need to have on hand when filling in the details:

Nothing goes to the tax department unless they ask for it. File digitally, keep the papers (or scans) for six years.

When is the ITR filing deadline?

Miss July 31 and you can still file a belated return up to 31 December 2026 — but with a late filing fee and interest on any unpaid tax. After December 31, you lose the chance to file for FY 2025-26 entirely.

One note: the government sometimes extends the July 31 deadline by a few weeks. Watch the income tax department’s announcements closer to the date.

What’s the penalty for filing late?

Two parts to the cost of a late filing:

1. Late filing fee under Section 234F — a flat fee, regardless of how late you are:

• ₹1,000 if your total income is ₹5 lakh or below
• ₹5,000 if your total income exceeds ₹5 lakh

2. Interest under Section 234A — if you still have unpaid tax after TDS, interest accrues at 1% per month on the outstanding balance from August 1 onwards. This compounds monthly.

If your employer deducted TDS correctly and your net tax liability is zero, you only pay the Section 234F flat fee. The 234A interest only hits when there’s tax left to pay.

The real cost of not filing at all: you can’t carry forward capital losses or business losses. You lose access to refunds. You risk a notice under Section 142(1). The ₹5,000 late fee is the smallest problem if the department decides to assess you independently.

I made a mistake in my return. Can I fix it?

Yes. You can file a revised return to correct errors — wrong regime chosen, income missed, deduction forgotten, wrong form used.

The deadline to revise is 31 December of the assessment year. For FY 2025-26 (AY 2026-27), you can revise until 31 December 2026.

There’s no limit on the number of revisions before that deadline. File the revision on the income tax portal the same way as the original — select “Revised return,” enter the acknowledgment number of the filing you’re correcting, and proceed.

Double-check your AIS before filing, not after. Once you’ve filed and verified, you can still revise — but it’s extra steps.

How do I verify my ITR after filing?

Filing without verification is like submitting a form without signing it — the department treats it as not filed at all.

The fastest method: Aadhaar OTP On the portal, after submitting your return, choose e-Verify → Generate Aadhaar OTP. You get an OTP on your Aadhaar-linked mobile number. Enter it. Verified instantly.

Other methods in order of convenience:

• Net banking EVC — through your bank’s net banking portal
• Demat account EVC — through NSDL or CDSL login
• Digital Signature Certificate — mainly used by companies and auditors
• Physical ITR-V — print the acknowledgment, sign in blue ink, courier to CPC Bengaluru. Must arrive within 30 days of filing. Use this only as a last resort.

If you filed but forgot to verify, the portal gives you 30 days from the filing date. After that, your return is treated as invalid and you’ll need to file again (as a belated or revised return, depending on timing).

I paid too much TDS. How do I claim a refund?

The refund process is automatic once you file and your return is processed. When your actual tax liability (computed from the ITR) is lower than the TDS already deducted, the difference is your refund — it goes directly to the bank account you declare in the form.

Two things that determine speed:

1. Pre-validate your bank account first. Go to incometax.gov.in → My Profile → Bank Account → Pre-validate. If this isn’t done, the refund sits pending until you do it.
2. Processing time. Simple returns (ITR-1, no AIS mismatches, Aadhaar-verified) are typically processed and refunded within 4–8 weeks of filing. Complex returns, AIS discrepancies, or capital gains schedules take longer.

Common reasons refunds are delayed: bank account not pre-validated, AIS mismatch, return filed but not e-verified, outstanding demand from a previous assessment year blocking the new refund.

Check refund status on the portal under My Returns / Forms, or at tin.nsdl.com. If it’s been more than 8 weeks, raise a grievance on the portal under “Submit Grievance” — most get resolved within 2 weeks.

I sold stocks or mutual funds. Does that change my filing?

Significantly.

Which form: You cannot use ITR-1 if you have any capital gains — even ₹1. You need ITR-2.

What to report: Every sale — listed stocks, equity mutual funds, debt funds, ESOPs — goes into the capital gains schedule. You’ll need the acquisition date, cost of acquisition, sale date, and sale price. Your AIS should have most of this pre-filled from broker reports, but verify it against your broker’s capital gains statement (available from Zerodha Console, Groww, Kuvera, etc. for free).

The applicable tax rates (post Finance Act 2024, effective July 2024):

If you received ESOPs and exercised them during the year, there’s also a perquisite tax at exercise — separate from the capital gains at sale. That’s a two-event tax most people miss. The ESOP Taxation guide walks through both events with exact numbers.

I had a business or capital loss this year. Should I still file?

Yes — and timing matters.

Under the Income Tax Act, you can carry forward losses to offset income in future years, but only if you file by the due date (July 31). File late and the carry-forward entitlement is lost.

For a ₹5 lakh business loss, that’s potentially ₹1.5 lakh in future tax savings you give up by missing the deadline. For capital losses, same rule — you lose the ability to set them off against future capital gains.

Filing on time costs nothing. Losing the carry-forward could cost you lakhs in the next 8 years (the standard carry-forward window for most losses).

My income is below the tax-free limit but my employer still deducted TDS. What now?

This is more common than you’d think. It happens when:

• Your employer’s TDS calculation didn’t account for all your deductions
• You’re in the new regime, your income is below ₹12.75 lakh, but TDS was deducted as if the 87A rebate wouldn’t apply
• You changed jobs and the second employer didn’t know about the first, so they calculated TDS on only their portion of your income

The fix is simple: file your ITR, show your correct deductions and income, and claim the refund. There’s nothing to do except file. The refund is calculated automatically when the return is processed.

Make sure your bank account is pre-validated on the portal, and cross-check your AIS to ensure no income source was missed that would change the zero-tax calculation.

Can I file my ITR offline (paper form)?

Only one category of taxpayers can file on paper: super senior citizens aged 80 or above, and only for ITR-1 or ITR-4. Everyone else must file electronically.

The “offline utility” you may have seen on the income tax website is a desktop tool that lets you fill in the form offline and generate a JSON file — you then upload that file to the portal. That’s still electronic filing, not a paper return. The final submission always goes to the portal.

For most people, filing directly on incometax.gov.in is simplest. The portal pre-fills data from AIS and guides you through each section. Paid platforms like ClearTax or Tax2Win offer more hand-holding and auto-import of capital gains data if you prefer a guided experience.

How long should I keep my tax documents?

At minimum 6 years from the end of the relevant assessment year. The Income Tax Act allows the department to reopen cases within 6 years for most taxpayers (and up to 10 years in cases of significant under-reported income or foreign assets).

What to keep per financial year:

• Filed ITR acknowledgment (ITR-V or EVC confirmation)
• Form 16 (Parts A and B)
• AIS and 26AS printout
• Investment proofs used for deductions (PPF passbook, insurance premium receipts, ELSS statements)
• Rent receipts and HRA documentation
• Broker statements and capital gains reports
• Home loan interest certificates

Digitize everything. A folder per financial year on Google Drive or your laptop is enough. You’ll be grateful for this system the one time you get an assessment notice.

Quick reference — key numbers for FY 2025-26

→ Calculate your tax on Unpakk Salary — enter your CTC and see your exact liability under both regimes before you file. If you sold shares or exercised ESOPs this year, the Equity Calculator handles the perquisite and capital gains math.

FY 2025-26 rules (AY 2026-27). Verified against incometax.gov.in and ClearTax (June 2026).

This guide is for informational purposes. Tax laws change — verify against incometax.gov.in for your specific situation.