My client returns income under s.44AD. The CPC has charged s.234C interest on four instalments. Is a presumptive assessee not entitled to pay the whole advance tax by 15 March?
He is. Section 211(1) now splits assessees into two classes: clause (a) covers 'all the assessees, other than the assessee referred to in clause (b)', who pay in four instalments — fifteen per cent by 15 June, forty-five per cent by 15 September, seventy-five per cent by 15 December and the whole by 15 March, each cumulative and reduced by earlier instalments; clause (b) covers 'an assessee who declares profits and gains in accordance with the provisions of sub-section (1) of section 44AD or sub-section (1) of section 44ADA', who pays 'to the extent of the whole amount of such advance tax during each financial year on or before the 15th March'. Section 234C(1)(b) mirrors this exactly, charging a presumptive assessee interest only on the shortfall from the tax due on the returned income as at 15 March.
Decided by the CBDT Circulars & Instructions (Not applicable — statutory text) on 2017-04-01, reported as Section 211 of the Income-tax Act, 1961, as amended up to 2025; clause (1)(b) in its present form substituted by the Finance Act, 2017, s.74, operative from 1 April 2017 by force of s.1(2) of that Act. It bears on section 211, section 211(1), section 211(2), section 44AD, section 44ADA, section 234C, section 234C(1)(b), section 210, section 156 of the Income Tax Act 1961, in Presumptive Taxation & Audit, Assessment & Scrutiny and Demand, Recovery & Stay matters.
Getting this wrong costs the client s.234C interest on four instalment dates instead of one, and the error is easy to make because the s.211 table looks like the whole of the section. Three practical points. First, the clause (b) route depends on the assessee actually declaring profits and gains in accordance with s.44AD(1) or s.44ADA(1) — it is keyed to the basis on which the income is returned, not merely to eligibility, so an eligible assessee who returns his real profits under the normal provisions falls back into clause (a) and its four instalments. Second, clause (b) is confined to those two sub-sections; it does not on its words extend to s.44AE, s.44B, s.44BB or s.44BBB, and an assessee under those provisions pays in four instalments. The date matters as much as the wording. Clause (b) in its present form was substituted by s.74 of the Finance Act, 2017, which replaced the earlier words "an eligible assessee in respect of an eligible business referred to in section 44AD" with the present formula covering s.44AD(1) and s.44ADA(1); s.75 of the same Act made the mirror substitution in s.234C(1)(a) and (1)(b). By s.1(2) of that Act, sections 2 to 88 came into force on 1 April 2017. So for the financial year 2016-17 and earlier, clause (b) reached only an eligible assessee in an eligible business under s.44AD, and a s.44ADA professional was in clause (a) on four instalments — do not apply the present single-instalment rule to that year. Third, the proviso to s.211(1) is easy to miss and is worth real money: 'any amount paid by way of advance tax on or before the 31st day of March shall also be treated as advance tax paid during the financial year ending on that day for all the purposes of this Act', so a payment made between 16 and 31 March is still advance tax — it does not cure the s.234C shortfall at 15 March, but it is advance tax for s.234B and for s.219 credit rather than self-assessment tax. Section 211(2) deals separately with the case where a s.156 notice under a s.210(3) or (4) order is served after a due date: the tax is then payable on such of the due dates as fall after service.
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Section 211(1)(a) requires 'all the assessees, other than the assessee referred to in clause (b), who are liable to pay the same' to pay advance tax on the current income calculated in the manner laid down in s.209 in four instalments, the Table specifying: on or before the 15th June, not less than fifteen per cent of such advance tax; on or before the 15th September, not less than forty-five per cent as reduced by the amount, if any, paid in the earlier instalment; on or before the 15th December, not less than seventy-five per cent as reduced by earlier instalments; and on or before the 15th March, the whole amount as reduced by earlier instalments. Clause (b) covers 'an assessee who declares profits and gains in accordance with the provisions of sub-section (1) of section 44AD or sub-section (1) of section 44ADA, as the case may be, to the extent of the whole amount of such advance tax during each financial year on or before the 15th March'. A proviso follows both clauses. Sub-section (2) deals with a notice of demand under s.156 issued in pursuance of a s.210(3) or (4) order and served after a due date. Section 234C(1)(b), as it now stands, charges such a presumptive assessee simple interest at one per cent on the shortfall where the advance tax paid on or before the 15th day of March is less than the tax due on the returned income.
An assessee who declares profits and gains in accordance with s.44AD(1) or s.44ADA(1) is required by s.211(1)(b) to pay the whole amount of his advance tax on or before 15 March of the financial year, and no earlier instalment is due from him. All other assessees liable to pay advance tax fall within s.211(1)(a) and pay in four instalments on the cumulative percentages set out in the Table. By the proviso to s.211(1), any amount paid by way of advance tax on or before 31 March is treated as advance tax paid during the financial year ending on that day for all the purposes of the Act.
Not applicable — this is a statement of the statutory text as printed on the departmental section pages. No judicial reasoning is involved.
an assessee who declares profits and gains in accordance with the provisions of sub-section (1) of section 44AD or sub-section (1) of section 44ADA, as the case may be, to the extent of the whole amount of such advance tax during each financial year on or before the 15th March:
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Handle my notice → Ask a CA on WhatsAppHe is. Section 211(1) now splits assessees into two classes: clause (a) covers 'all the assessees, other than the assessee referred to in clause (b)', who pay in four instalments — fifteen per cent by 15 June, forty-five per cent by 15 September, seventy-five per cent by 15 December and the whole by 15 March, each cumulative and reduced by earlier instalments; clause (b) covers 'an assessee who declares profits and gains in accordance with the provisions of sub-section (1) of section 44AD or sub-section (1) of section 44ADA', who pays 'to the extent of the whole amount of such advance tax during each financial year on or before the 15th March'. Section 234C(1)(b) mirrors this exactly, charging a presumptive assessee interest only on the shortfall from the tax due on the returned income as at 15 March. This was decided by the CBDT Circulars & Instructions (Not applicable — statutory text) and bears on section 211, section 211(1), section 211(2), section 44AD, section 44ADA, section 234C, section 234C(1)(b), section 210, section 156 of the Income Tax Act 1961. It is reported as Section 211 of the Income-tax Act, 1961, as amended up to 2025; clause (1)(b) in its present form substituted by the Finance Act, 2017, s.74, operative from 1 April 2017 by force of s.1(2) of that Act. Getting this wrong costs the client s.234C interest on four instalment dates instead of one, and the error is easy to make because the s.211 table looks like the whole of the section. Three practical points. First, the clause (b) route depends on the assessee actually declaring profits and gains in accordance with s.44AD(1) or s.44ADA(1) — it is keyed to the basis on which the income is returned, not merely to eligibility, so an eligible assessee who returns his real profits under the normal provisions falls back into clause (a) and its four instalments. Second, clause (b) is confined to those two sub-sections; it does not on its words extend to s.44AE, s.44B, s.44BB or s.44BBB, and an assessee under those provisions pays in four instalments. The date matters as much as the wording. Clause (b) in its present form was substituted by s.74 of the Finance Act, 2017, which replaced the earlier words "an eligible assessee in respect of an eligible business referred to in section 44AD" with the present formula covering s.44AD(1) and s.44ADA(1); s.75 of the same Act made the mirror substitution in s.234C(1)(a) and (1)(b). By s.1(2) of that Act, sections 2 to 88 came into force on 1 April 2017. So for the financial year 2016-17 and earlier, clause (b) reached only an eligible assessee in an eligible business under s.44AD, and a s.44ADA professional was in clause (a) on four instalments — do not apply the present single-instalment rule to that year. Third, the proviso to s.211(1) is easy to miss and is worth real money: 'any amount paid by way of advance tax on or before the 31st day of March shall also be treated as advance tax paid during the financial year ending on that day for all the purposes of this Act', so a payment made between 16 and 31 March is still advance tax — it does not cure the s.234C shortfall at 15 March, but it is advance tax for s.234B and for s.219 credit rather than self-assessment tax. Section 211(2) deals separately with the case where a s.156 notice under a s.210(3) or (4) order is served after a due date: the tax is then payable on such of the due dates as fall after service. If it applies to you, the first step is this: Identify the class first. If the return declares profits and gains under s.44AD(1) or s.44ADA(1), the only due date under s.211(1)(b) is 15 March and the s.234C computation must follow s.234C(1)(b), which works on that single date.
Section 211(1)(a) requires 'all the assessees, other than the assessee referred to in clause (b), who are liable to pay the same' to pay advance tax on the current income calculated in the manner laid down in s.209 in four instalments, the Table specifying: on or before the 15th June, not less than fifteen per cent of such advance tax; on or before the 15th September, not less than forty-five per cent as reduced by the amount, if any, paid in the earlier instalment; on or before the 15th December, not less than seventy-five per cent as reduced by earlier instalments; and on or before the 15th March, the whole amount as reduced by earlier instalments. Clause (b) covers 'an assessee who declares profits and gains in accordance with the provisions of sub-section (1) of section 44AD or sub-section (1) of section 44ADA, as the case may be, to the extent of the whole amount of such advance tax during each financial year on or before the 15th March'. A proviso follows both clauses. Sub-section (2) deals with a notice of demand under s.156 issued in pursuance of a s.210(3) or (4) order and served after a due date. Section 234C(1)(b), as it now stands, charges such a presumptive assessee simple interest at one per cent on the shortfall where the advance tax paid on or before the 15th day of March is less than the tax due on the returned income. The matter was decided on 2017-04-01 by the CBDT Circulars & Instructions (Not applicable — statutory text). On those facts the CBDT Circulars & Instructions held as follows. An assessee who declares profits and gains in accordance with s.44AD(1) or s.44ADA(1) is required by s.211(1)(b) to pay the whole amount of his advance tax on or before 15 March of the financial year, and no earlier instalment is due from him. All other assessees liable to pay advance tax fall within s.211(1)(a) and pay in four instalments on the cumulative percentages set out in the Table. By the proviso to s.211(1), any amount paid by way of advance tax on or before 31 March is treated as advance tax paid during the financial year ending on that day for all the purposes of the Act.
Not applicable — this is a statement of the statutory text as printed on the departmental section pages. No judicial reasoning is involved. In the words reproduced by the source cited on this page: "an assessee who declares profits and gains in accordance with the provisions of sub-section (1) of section 44AD or sub-section (1) of section 44ADA, as the case may be, to the extent of the whole amount of such advance tax during each financial year on or before the 15th March:"
It was decided by the CBDT Circulars & Instructions on 2017-04-01 and is reported as Section 211 of the Income-tax Act, 1961, as amended up to 2025; clause (1)(b) in its present form substituted by the Finance Act, 2017, s.74, operative from 1 April 2017 by force of s.1(2) of that Act. Binding on the department, not on the assessee or the courts. An assessee may rely on a circular that is beneficial to them. A CBDT circular or instruction binds officers of the department but not the assessee and not the courts. Where a circular helps you, you may hold the department to it. Where it hurts you, it cannot override the Act or a judgment. On section 211, section 211(1), section 211(2), section 44AD, section 44ADA, section 234C, section 234C(1)(b), section 210, section 156, the practical question is whether the facts of your own notice match the facts of this case closely enough for the same rule to apply.
It cuts both ways and is cited by both sides. An assessee who declares profits and gains in accordance with s.44AD(1) or s.44ADA(1) is required by s.211(1)(b) to pay the whole amount of his advance tax on or before 15 March of the financial year, and no earlier instalment is due from him. All other assessees liable to pay advance tax fall within s.211(1)(a) and pay in four instalments on the cumulative percentages set out in the Table. By the proviso to s.211(1), any amount paid by way of advance tax on or before 31 March is treated as advance tax paid during the financial year ending on that day for all the purposes of the Act. It arises in Presumptive Taxation & Audit, Assessment & Scrutiny and Demand, Recovery & Stay matters, on section 211, section 211(1), section 211(2), section 44AD, section 44ADA, section 234C, section 234C(1)(b), section 210, section 156 of the Income Tax Act 1961, and was decided by Not applicable — statutory text. Before relying on it, read the source linked on this page and check whether it has since been distinguished, overruled or overtaken by an amendment to the Income Tax Act. In practice the steps that follow from it are these. Where a s.234C computation in a s.143(1) intimation has charged a presumptive assessee on the June, September and December dates, take it by rectification under s.154 with s.211(1)(b) and s.234C(1)(b) set out side by side. For an assessee in clause (a), check the cumulative percentages, not the incremental ones: the table requires not less than fifteen, forty-five and seventy-five per cent of the advance tax by 15 June, 15 September and 15 December respectively, each reduced by what was already paid. For an assessee in clause (a), also check the first proviso to s.234C(1): there is no interest for the June and September dates if at least twelve per cent and thirty-six per cent respectively of the tax due on the returned income has been paid by those dates. Where the payment was made between 16 and 31 March, invoke the proviso to s.211(1) to have it treated as advance tax of that financial year for all purposes of the Act, and check that the s.234B computation has given credit for it as advance tax. Do not state the position from an old text of section 211. The pre-2017 text still prints the superseded two-table structure — four instalments for companies and three for everyone else, at 30, 60 and 100 per cent — with no clause for a presumptive assessee at all.
Still good law. The section appears identically on two separately published versions, and its presumptive limb is matched by section 234C(1)(b) as currently published. Clause (1)(b) in its present form was substituted by section 74 of the Finance Act, 2017, in force from 1 April 2017 by section 1(2) of that Act, so the position stated here governs the financial year 2017-18 onwards. For earlier years clause (b) reached only an eligible assessee in an eligible business under section 44AD, and a section 44ADA professional paid in four instalments. The original insertion of clause (b), and the date on which the four-instalment schedule was extended to non-corporate assessees, could not be dated here. Validity has not been checked against any judicial decision, so nothing on this page should be read as a statement of how the section has been construed. Two practical points follow. A presumptive assessee's single instalment on or before 15 March is a concession on the schedule and not on the liability: section 234C(1)(b) charges one per cent simple interest on the shortfall where what is paid by that date falls short of the tax due on the returned income, so the whole of the advance tax has to be estimated by then. And the concession attaches to an assessee who declares profits and gains under section 44AD(1) or section 44ADA(1); an assessee who is eligible but does not declare on that footing falls under clause (a) and owes four instalments. A practitioner should check the schedule in force for the year in issue rather than assume this one. No source could be cited for that finding. Checking whether an authority still stands matters as much as knowing what it held: a decision may be overruled on one point and survive on another, or the provision it interprets may have been amended since. Read the source and the editor's note on this page before relying on it in a reply to an Assessing Officer or in an appeal.
Section 211 has been read in full from the most recent published version of the section, under the heading 'Instalments of advance tax and due dates', and independently, word for word, from the version published before it. The oldest published version prints the superseded structure — Table I for companies with four instalments and Table II for others with three, at 30, 60 and 100 per cent, and no clause for a presumptive assessee at all. It must not be used. Section 234C(1)(b) is taken from its current published text and corroborated for the proviso against an earlier one. No amendment footnote is published for section 211, so the provenance of clause (b) in its present form had to be established another way, from the amending Act itself. Section 74 of the Finance Act, 2017, headed 'Amendment of section 211', substitutes for the words 'an eligible assessee in respect of an eligible business referred to in section 44AD' the words 'an assessee who declares profits and gains in accordance with the provisions of sub-section (1) of section 44AD or sub-section (1) of section 44ADA, as the case may be'. Section 75 of the same Act, headed 'Amendment of section 234C', makes the mirror substitution in section 234C(1)(a) and (1)(b). Section 1(2) of that Act provides that 'Save as otherwise provided in this Act, sections 2 to 88 shall come into force on the 1st day of April, 2017.' Sections 74 and 75 fall within that range, so the present clause (b) operates from 1 April 2017, and decided_on is set to that date. Two things remain undated. The original insertion of clause (b), covering section 44AD alone, has not been dated, nor has the date on which the four-instalment schedule was extended to non-corporate assessees. A reader dealing with an assessment year before 2017-18 must therefore check the schedule then in force rather than assume this one. No date on this page is taken from an amendment footnote, and no Gazette text has been read. This library shows the verification state of every entry openly. This entry has not yet been read in full by a chartered accountant. The summary reflects the sources listed on this page. Read the source before you rely on it in a reply to an Assessing Officer or in an appeal before the Commissioner (Appeals) or the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal.
An assessee who declares profits and gains in accordance with s.44AD(1) or s.44ADA(1) is required by s.211(1)(b) to pay the whole amount of his advance tax on or before 15 March of the financial year, and no earlier instalment is due from him. All other assessees liable to pay advance tax fall within s.211(1)(a) and pay in four instalments on the cumulative percentages set out in the Table. By the proviso to s.211(1), any amount paid by way of advance tax on or before 31 March is treated as advance tax paid during the financial year ending on that day for all the purposes of the Act.
TaxSphere, “Statutory position — s.211: the four advance tax instalments, and the single 15 March instalment for a s.44AD or s.44ADA presumptive assessee”, https://taxnotice.vittsphere.com/caselaw/case/statutory-position-211-instalment-dates-and-the-single-instalment-for-a-44ad-or-44ada-assessee/ (validity last checked 2026-09-08)
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My capital gain arose after 15 March, so I could not have paid advance tax on it in any instalment. The Assessing Officer has charged s.234C interest from the first instalment date. Can he?
My client sold a property in February and paid the whole tax on it with the March instalment. The intimation still charges s.234C interest on the June, September and December instalments. Is there a defence in the section itself?
The Assessing Officer has served an order in February requiring my client to pay advance tax on the basis of an earlier year's assessed income. Can he do that, and what can my client do if the current year's income will be far lower?
The assessment order taxes the year but the computation sheet has not given credit for the advance tax my client paid, or has credited it to the wrong year. What is the statutory basis for insisting on the credit?
