Filing previous income tax returns

Nashu U (3 Points)

17 May 2024  

Hi,

I was not very much educated on filing ITRs till I joined a corporate job 3 years back. It was on my current job that I started to understand and learn from others on importance of filing and its procedures. I have few issues with pending returns. Here is timeline of my work:

  • 2010-2015: Student with stipend (Rs. 1,44,000 during first two years and Rs. 2,16,000 for next 3 years, all in annual payments). Not paid any taxes or filed ITR during this period.
  • 2015-2018: Worked on occasional freelance gigs while I was working on a startup idea (total income earned during that period many have not crossed ~Rs. 6-7 lacs per year). Not paid any taxes or filed ITR during this period.
  • 2018-2020: Worked as a project assistance for short-term contract with a govt. institute (Section 194JB). All advance taxes paid. Filing done for FY2018-19 but not for FY2019-20 and FY2020-21 (I was unemployed for most part due to a medical issue). Also, I got job before 10 Mar 2021 So have income listed under both Section 194JB and Section 192 just for one month, so I was confused which ITR form to fill.
  • 2021-Present: Joined a corporate company (Section 192). All advance taxes were cut for FY2021-22, FY2022-23, FY2023-24. For some reason, I did start doing filing process for FY2021-22 for first time, but I could not find acknowledgement receipt when I checked recently. For FY2022-23, I took help of Clear Tax and got it filed. For FY2023-24, there is time to file.

Is it possible for me to file for me to file income tax returns up to FY2010-11? Only considerable income I see is during the period of 2015-2018, but then under Section 44 taxable income would be less than Rs. 3.5 lacs. If I consider tax slab during this period, my pending tax would be less than Rs. 30,000 for all three years. So pending taxes is low but for all other years, I have already paid the tax and is with government but IT returns were not filed.

I tried searching for it online many times and asked 2 chartered accountants in my local area, but they have not much to help on this.

Thank you very much.
Best regards,

Naran