15 Dec 2018 – The 3rd instalment of advance tax due date!

15th December 2018 is the due date to pay the third instalment of your advance tax liability of Financial Year (FY) 2018-19. Assess your advance tax liability for the December instalment and pay it to avoid any interest or late fine. Here’s how and when you need to pay advance tax as per Income Tax Act, 1961.

If you have an estimated total tax liability of more than Rs.10,000 in a particular FY then you need to pay advance tax and comply with its provisions. However, a resident individual aged 60 years or above, not having income from business or profession, is not required to pay advance tax.

Advance tax for an FY has to be paid in 4 instalments. Starting from 15th June, 15% of the advance tax has to be paid. Then by 15th September, you should have paid 45%, by December 75% of the advance tax liability and by 15th March, 100% of it. However, you should pay your 100% advance tax by 15th March, if you covered under Presumptive Taxation Scheme (PTS) of Income Tax Act.

You can pay your advance tax through online or offline mode. To pay the tax online logging into Income Tax Government portal, then choose “e-pay tax” which will redirect you to payment website. To pay advance tax, select “Challan 280”. Once you fill the details of the Challan 280, you can proceed to payment using the net banking facility of your bank account.

To pay it offline, you have to go to the designated bank branch and fill the challan 280 form and pay the tax.

Remember while calculating advance tax liability, you have to consider all the deductions under chapter VI A for the investments made. Chapter VI A talks about sections like 80C, 80D, 80TTA and so on. If you fail to comply with the due dates of payment, you will have to pay interest on the tax due.

If you are required to pay advance tax but haven’t paid any amount still for the FY 2018-19, you can pay the 75% of the tax liability by 15th December 2018.