FAQ — Common Legal & Tax Questions Answered

Plain-English answers to the questions Indians search for most — from ITR filing and GST notices to FIR rights, bail, property and company registration. Free and always up to date.

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What you can do here

Income tax: ITR form selection, regime choice, 80C deductions, 143(1) notice replies
GST: registration eligibility, DRC-01 notice, ITC eligibility, GSTR-3B
Criminal: FIR registration rights, bail (anticipatory/regular), BNS sections, cheque bounce
Corporate: Pvt Ltd vs LLP vs OPC, annual compliance, ROC filings
Property, family (maintenance, divorce) and cyber law (IT Act, online fraud)

Check the assessment year on any tax answer

Tax answers decay faster than any other kind of legal information. Slab rates, the section 87A rebate, standard deduction, capital-gains rates and thresholds, and TDS limits change periodically, so an answer that was correct two years ago is now simply wrong. The answers here are stated for AY 2026-27. Anywhere else — including search results and forum posts — look for the year before you rely on a figure, and prefer the department's own notification for anything material.

Criminal-law answers moved to new section numbers

The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam replaced the IPC, CrPC and Evidence Act from 1 July 2024. A very large share of legal content online still cites the old numbering. Offences committed before that date are generally dealt with under the old law, so both sets remain in use — which means a section number tells you nothing until you know which code it belongs to.

Deadlines are the answer to more questions than you would expect

A surprising proportion of legal and tax problems are decided by timing rather than merits. Losses cannot be carried forward if the return is late. A cheque-bounce case fails if any of its three consecutive periods is missed. An income-tax return is invalid if not verified within 30 days of filing. A GST return cannot be filed while an earlier one is pending. Where an answer here mentions a period, treat that as the operative part rather than background.

General answers, particular facts

Everything here states the general rule. Whether it applies to you depends on facts a page cannot see — your residential status, which state you are in, what has already been filed, what the other side has done, and what documents exist. State-level questions in particular have no single national answer: stamp duty, professional tax, rent laws and the appropriate court all vary. Use these answers to frame the question, then confirm the application to your facts.

Where to go next

If you are holding a document you do not understand, the notice decoder identifies what it is and what it asks for. If you need a number, the free calculators run the computation for AY 2026-27. If you want the reasoning behind a rule rather than the short answer, the learning guides work through the provisions with citations you can check.

Frequently asked questions

Can I ask my own question?

Yes — use the free AI Advocate or AI Tax/GST agent to ask any legal or tax question. The AI researches your facts and gives a structured answer in plain English.

How often is the FAQ updated?

The FAQ is reviewed with each Finance Act, Budget or significant court ruling. All answers are grounded in the current bare Act or official notification.

Who needs to file an ITR in India?

ITR filing is mandatory if your income exceeds the basic exemption (₹3 lakh under the new regime), if TDS was deducted, if you have foreign assets or income, or if you want to carry forward losses. Even below the limit, filing is advisable to build a tax record.

What is the difference between BNS and IPC?

The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) 2023 replaced the Indian Penal Code (IPC) from 1 July 2024. Section numbers changed significantly — for example, IPC 420 (cheating) is now BNS 318(4). India Law Simplified provides a free IPC-to-BNS mapping guide.