Income Tax Compliances for Employees

Introduction

Adhering to the timelines is the one of the most critical particularly for employees. In this article, we will discuss some of the crucial income tax compliances to be done by the employees.

Employees please don’t miss this article, because once you understand these compliances every year you can comply them with ease. And also remember that in this article we will discuss compliances only from employee’s perspective. 

Income Tax Compliances for Employees

These compliances include tax compliances for both the financial years 2023-24 and 2024-25. 

1. Last instalment of Advance tax for FY 23-24: 15th March 2024

This is one of the important compliance if you are covered under Advance tax provisions.

If you have any other income other than salary, which includes income from house property, interest income, stock market income & dividend income etc. and if the same is not communicated to your employer, then the employer may not deduct the applicable TDS on these additional incomes apart from the salary. 

If the additional tax on these incomes in a financial year exceeds Rs. 10,000 or more then Advance tax provisions will be applicable. In such case, due date for remitting the 4th instalment of advance tax for FY 23-24 is 15 March 2024. 

If you have ONLY salary income, then you need not worry about this compliance. 

2. Last date for Tax saving investment for FY 23-24: 31st March 2024

If you have opted for the Old scheme and want to claim deductions or exemptions, then the last day to make your tax-saving investments for FY 23-24 is 31st March 2024. 

Do remember, this compliance applies only have opted old scheme and want to claim some deductions or exemptions. Instead, if you opted for a new scheme or don’t want to claim any exemptions or deductions, then this compliance is not applicable for you. 

3. Choose preferred Tax Scheme for FY 24-25 (Apr 2024)

Generally, you need to select your preferred tax scheme at the beginning of the financial year, which is nothing but in April. Accordingly, please communicate your preferred tax scheme to your employer for FY 24-25 in April 2024.

If you are opting for the new scheme, delay in the intimation of your scheme to your employer scheme may not affect your tax outgo. But instead, if you want to go for the old scheme, please inform your choice of scheme within the time to the employer.

Since from FY 23-24, new scheme becomes the default option. If you did not communicate your preferred tax scheme to the employer, he/she may consider your scheme as the new tax scheme and deducts tax accordingly.

4. 1st instalment of Advance tax for FY 24-25: 15th June 2024 

As discussed above in the first point, if you have any other income other than salary and tax liability on such income is 10,000 or more in the financial year, then you are covered under advance tax provisions. In such case, make sure to remit your 1st instalment of advance tax before 15th June, 2024.

5. Check your AIS and report discrepancies – June 2024 

This is a very important compliance for FY 23-24 because the last date for filing your income tax returns (ITR) for FY 23-24 is 31st July 2024. 

Your priority before filing your ITR should be checking your AIS or Form 26AS. And make sure all your taxes deducted are properly reflected in these statements. If not, contact your deductor and try to get all your tax credits before filing your ITR.

Why this is an important compliance because if you don’t get your tax credit right in these statements, finally at the time of filing ITR either you will end up paying more taxes or you will get a lesser refund.  

So always make sure to complete this task in June itself, so that you can file your ITR before 31 July 2024. 

6. Last date to file your ITR for FY 23-24 – 31st July 2024 

Filing Income Tax Return (ITR) is the most important task that one should not miss. Since non-filing leads to various consequences, always make sure to file it before the due date.

But before that first check your 26AS or AIS in the month of June, and resolve any discrepancies, if exists. If no discrepancies found, you may proceed for ITR filing. Make sure to choose the right ITR form based on your income and gather all filing-related documents like interest certificate from bank & Form-16 from employer etc. and then proceed for ITR filing before 31 July 2024.

7. 2nd instalment of Advance tax for FY 24-25: 15th Sep 2024

This is again similar to the Advance tax provisions discussed earlier in this article (Refer points 1 & 4). If Advance tax provisions are applicable, then be aware of this compliance. Otherwise please ignore it. 

8. Investment proof submission – Nov/Dec 2024

This is applicable only for the people who opted for the Old scheme. Those who applied for the New scheme need not worry about this compliance. 

Usually for FY 24-25, employees will submit their investment declaration to the employer in April 2024. With respect to such investment declaration, employees need to submit the corresponding investment proofs either in November or Decemeber 2024. 

So be ready with the investment proofs, if you opted for the Old scheme.

9. 3rd instalment of Advance tax for FY 24-25: 15th Dec 2024

Since we have already discussed regarding this compliance in the points 1, 4 & 7 above, I’m not repeating it again here.

10. Last date for filing Revised or Belated return for FY 23-24: 31st December 2024  

Generally, the last date for filing Income Tax Returns (ITR) for FY 23-24 is 31st July 2024. In case you missed this filing deadline, then you can file the Belated return before 31st December. 

And to rectify any error or omission in the ITR filed earlier, then you can correct the same by filing the Revised return. Deadline for the Revised return for financial year 23-24 is 31st December 2024. 

Due to any reason, if you could not file your ITR before this due date (31st Dec 2024), you cannot file ITR for financial year 23-24. Then the only option left is Updated Return (ITR-U).

Conclusion

Since most of these compliances comes with a price, always ensure to adhere within the timelines specified in the article.

Remember the timelines and make it as practice for 1 year and the rest follows.

Hope you enjoyed reading the article. Thank you for your time.