You must pay advance tax if your estimated liability for the year is Rs 10,000 or more after credit for TDS and TCS. It is due in four instalments — 15% by 15 June, 45% by 15 September, 75% by 15 December and 100% by 15 March — and s.234C charges 1% a month on each shortfall.
Section 208 fixes the trigger. Every person whose estimated tax liability for the year is Rs 10,000 or more must pay tax in advance. The estimate is made after reducing eligible TDS and TCS, so a salaried person whose employer withholds correctly usually has nothing to pay, while the same person with substantial interest or capital gains may well have.
Section 207 carves out one class. A resident individual who is 60 years or more at any time during the year, and who does not have income chargeable under the head profits and gains of business or profession, is not liable to pay advance tax at all. The Department's own tutorial works the examples: a 65-year-old resident with rental income is exempt; a 56-year-old with the same income is not, because of age; a 61-year-old with rental plus business income is not, because of the business income; and a 63-year-old non-resident is not, because of residence.
The instalment ladder for an ordinary taxpayer is cumulative: at least 15% of the liability by 15 June, 45% by 15 September, 75% by 15 December and 100% by 15 March. Anything paid after 15 March but before 31 March still counts as advance tax paid during the year, though it will not save the fourth-instalment interest.
Taxpayers declaring income on a presumptive basis under s.44AD or s.44ADA are on a different schedule. They pay the whole of their advance tax in a single instalment by 15 March, and interest under s.234C arises only if that one deadline is missed or the payment falls short.
Section 234C charges simple interest at 1% per month on the shortfall in each instalment, computed separately. The period is three months each for the June, September and December instalments, and one month for the March instalment. So the same rupee of underpayment costs 3% if missed in June and 1% if missed in March.
There are two statutory tolerances built into the first two instalments. If you have paid at least 12% of the liability by 15 June, no interest is charged for that instalment even though the target is 15%. If you have paid at least 36% by 15 September, no interest is charged for that instalment even though the target is 45%. There is no equivalent tolerance for the December and March instalments.
The section also recognises that some income cannot be estimated in advance. Shortfalls attributable to capital gains, to winnings from lotteries and games, to income from a business or profession that arose for the first time, and to dividend income do not attract s.234C interest, provided the tax on that income is paid in the remaining instalments or, where the income arises after the last instalment date, by the end of the financial year. That proviso is why a large capital gain in March does not retrospectively make your June instalment short.
Section 234C is charged instalment by instalment, so it is perfectly possible to pay your full liability on time in aggregate and still be charged interest for having paid it in the wrong quarters. The 12% and 36% tolerances and the capital gains proviso are the two things that most often decide whether a demand is correct, and both are routinely missed when interest is computed by software on gross figures.
Can interest under ss.234A, 234B and 234C be waived?
The Assessing Officer computed interest under s.234B and s.234C first and only then gave me credit for MAT under s.115JAA. My refund has turned into a demand. Is that the right order?
My company paid no advance tax because we only knew we would fall under MAT once the accounts were audited — is interest under sections 234B and 234C still chargeable on the tax on book profit?
The officer rejected my books and applied a flat net profit rate. Can I still claim my freight and other expenses separately?
I declared income under 44AD. Must I explain every individual cash deposit in my bank account?
The officer made a best judgment assessment and fixed my profit at a percentage of receipts. Does that wipe out my claim to depreciation and to interest?
My client is a firm, not a company. It paid alternate minimum tax under s.115JC when it filed its return, along with the accountant's report. The Assessing Officer has charged interest under s.234B for not paying that tax as advance tax. Can advance tax provisions apply to AMT?
I am a partner. Can I take the salary and interest my firm pays me, call it my turnover, and offer 8 per cent of it under s.44AD?
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