Tax returns
The year’s return, and the decisions worth making before it: what has to agree with what, and where we come in.
How people usually arrive.
You want the return prepared properly this year rather than assembled in a hurry.
You are choosing between the regimes and want the comparison run on your own figures.
You filed something that was wrong or incomplete and want to know what can still be done.
You have received a notice from the department and are not sure what it is asking for.
Where we come in.
What you can engage us to help with here, how it usually begins, and what is useful to have.
- Before the year ends
- We compare the two regimes on your own figures rather than an example, go through the deductions you are actually eligible for, and schedule advance tax as the income arises, so that nothing lands all at once in the last month.
- Preparing the return
- We build the return from your statements rather than from a summary: salary, gains, more than one property, business or professional income, and foreign assets where you hold them. We reconcile it against what was withheld and what the department already holds, and you see it before it goes.
- Filing
- We file it, and we keep the working, so that next year starts from a record rather than a reconstruction.
- Corrections and notices
- Where something already filed is wrong or incomplete, we establish which route is still open to correct it and what that route costs. Where a notice has come, we work out what it is asking for and prepare the response within its time.
It begins with last year’s return, if there was one, and the statements for this year.
Useful to have, if you have it
- Last year’s return, if there was one
- Salary statements and certificates for tax deducted
- Capital gains statements from brokers and funds
- Interest certificates, deduction proofs, and details of any foreign assets
Where this needs another specialist
We prepare and file. We do not carry out audits or issue certificates ourselves: where an audit is required, we can connect you with a practising professional who does, and we prepare what they need.
What becomes relevant, and when.
Each consideration at the stage it tends to arrive, explained once. The ones shared with other matters say so.
Through the year
- Advance tax
Income not covered by withholding, gains, rent or freelance work, may need advance tax paid in instalments through the year. Who has to pay it depends on the amount and, for some people, on age and the kind of income.
Shared with 01 Starting a business · 04 Listed investments · 09 Property
- Withholding (TDS)
Tax already withheld by employers, banks, tenants or buyers shows up in your tax credit statement. Matching it against your own records is where most returns start.
Shared with five other matters. See them on the map →
Before the year ends
- Regime choice
The choice between the two regimes is best made on your own figures for the year, since it changes which deductions can be claimed. One of them applies unless you choose otherwise, and how freely you can switch depends on whether you have business income.
- Deductions
What you are actually eligible to claim depends on the regime and on what you paid or invested during the year. The proof is gathered before filing, not after.
Before filing
- Statements
- Capital gains
Every sale of shares, units or property during the year comes into the return with its own working. The statements are gathered first.
Shared with seven other matters. See them on the map →
- Foreign asset reporting
If you were resident for the year and hold assets outside India, they are reported in the return whether or not they produced income.
Shared with 06 International taxation · 07 ESOPs & employee equity · 08 Living abroad / NRI · On the map →
At filing
- Income-tax return
The return itself: which form applies, what it must show, and the reconciliation between your records, the withholding and the department’s own view.
Shared with nine other matters. See them on the map →
- Residency
Residential status for the year decides which return applies and which income is reported. It is settled before anything is filled in.
Shared with five other matters. See them on the map →
After filing
- Corrections & notices
A return already filed can be corrected within a window, and a longer route exists after that at a price. A notice from the department needs a response within its own time. Both start from what was originally reported.