How long should you keep old tax documents? Will it be enough to maintain digital tax documents? Many people often ask this question. Let us know about it in detail.
Expert Gori Chadha in CNBC Awaaz’s Tax Guru answered this. He said that there is no provision in the Income Tax Act regarding how long the taxpayer should keep the documents with him. However, he also said, Section 149 of Income Tax mentions the time limit for sending income tax notice to any person. Based on which the documents should be kept safe for that period.
He said that under Section 149 of the IT Act, the Income Tax Department has the right to send notices to taxpayers for the next seven years from the end of the relevant financial year.
Meaning, if you file income tax for the financial year 2022-23, then you should keep the documents related to it safe for the next seven years i.e. till the financial year 2030-31.
This time limit of seven years applies to all types of tachypayers. The time limit for keeping documents safe for a period of next seven years is the same for everyone, be it a salaried individual, self-employed or a professional.
