Taxes asked for by the government are the most important tools helping in the nation-building & development. These taxes are the primary source of revenue for any government, and these taxes are spent on public welfare and not for the government’s benefit. The amount collected from the taxes is invested in different fields such as health, education, infrastructure, defense, etc. These fields are developed time-to-time in respect of different aspects. In such a way, indirectly, the taxes paid by us come back to us.
How to Pay Income Tax Online in India [2020 GUIDE]
Paying taxes is a duty that everyone must do so that the country can grow overall. But, it is sad for the country that people in India find paying taxes a burden. Therefore, most of the people either do not pay the entire tax or do not pay at all. They try to hide their income. Some do not pay on time also. For resolving this problem, the government is regularly making certain provisions to ensure that people pay taxes. Paying taxes is a way to justify one’s income. Through this, the IT department keeps an eye on the income of different people and the ones who try to escape from the tax liability.
Methods of Paying Income Tax
The three different ways in which a person’s income can be justified through taxes are-
Tax Deducted at Source Advance tax payments Self-assessment taxes paid before filing ITR
Any individual who has an income of more than Rs.10,000 in a year is liable to pay taxes as advance taxes. But, this advance tax is not necessary to be paid for the salaried persons even if their salary is more than Rs.10,000. However, if they earn anything besides their salaries, such as capital gains or interest incomes, then they would have to pay taxes on such income. Before you file your ITR, you must calculate and know how much tax you are liable to pay. Then go ahead with paying taxes. Any balance tax that is payable can be deposited as a self-assessment tax.
Self-Assessment Tax
For making it more convenient for the taxpayers, the whole of the tax liability has been divided by the government. It has been divided into some portions so that people do not have to pay their taxes as a single sum, and they can pay it as advance taxes. Through the salary slip you get, you can check the amount that has been deducted from your salary as a tax. But, it may be possible that the amount of actual tax to be paid is different from the amount deducted. Therefore, there is a need to compute taxes. When the advance tax paid is less than what actually should be paid, in such case, the person needs to pay the balance amount to clear the dues. Also Read: 20 Tax-Saving Tips For Small Business Owners & Startups Sometimes, people can assess the taxes on their own, which comes out to be almost the same as the actual tax. But, sometimes, these self-assessed taxes can go wrong and may not come out to be equal to the actual taxes to be paid. In such cases, the taxpayers will have to pay the balance amount. Any person can pay the taxes either online or offline, but the most preferred nowadays is the online method. The world is growing fast, technology is being upgraded, and most importantly, people are very busy with their own work also. So, they have less time and prefer online transactions. This is also an easy & simple way to pay. Written below is the procedure of how to pay the tax online.
Step-by-Step procedure to pay Income Tax online
To ensure a hassle-free payment of taxes, the government has made it easy for the salaried people by allowing them to pay taxes online. There are proper & adequate procedures for this which can be followed to pay the taxes. However, the online payment of taxes is possible only through net banking. So, the people who haven’t subscribed for net banking with their banks cannot pay the taxes through online methods.
The first thing you need to do is to go to the website, www.tin-nsdl.com. There go to the Services menu then e-payment. Here, you have to click on the pay tax option. Then you will have to go to the tax information network. This is of tax department & then you must select challan 280 there. You must do a very important step i.e., to choose your year of assessment. This step has to be done with utmost care. Now, there are different sections to choose from. If you are paying the tax while the financial year is going on, then you need to select the section 100 “Advance Tax” option. If you want to pay taxes after the end of the financial year, you need to select section 300 for this. Under this, choose the “Self-Assessment of Taxes” option. If you got a notice from the IT department to pay the tax, then you choose section 400 “Tax on regular Assessment” option. Some of the fields in the process of paying taxes are mandatory to be filled. So, when you are done with choosing the year of assessment, you must fill these details. They include: PAN Assessment year Phone number Email address Bank name Captcha code Address After entering the above data, it will be confirmed. Then the net banking site of the bank will open automatically. Then enter your id and password that you got from the bank for using net banking facility and log in. Now, enter your payment details to proceed further for tax payment. Once the payment of the tax is complete, you will be shown a challan counterfoil on your screen. This includes all the details about the person paying the tax and the amount paid by him. Keep this with you in case any query arises from the income tax department. The details of the payment are there on the Challan 280.
The online mode has been a great option, which is very easy too. But, many people are still there who either do not have access to all this or they do not want to pay it online. So, the offline mode is also available. They can go to the bank designated and pay it there directly. It can be done through cheque or cash as per the choice of the taxpayer. In this case, the payer needs to take the challan from the office of the IT department and then submit the amount of tax along with that challan in the designated bank.
What are the benefits of Paying Tax Online?
If it is possible to pay online for you, then you can pay the taxes from any place at any time. It provides you with this flexibility. No penalties because of the immediate process of transfer of funds. As soon as the transfer is initiated from your end, the funds are paid and transferred at that moment only. Your challan and receipt copy would be safe always online. The important & personal information that you provide would be kept confidential & there is no risk. You can check the payment status if you pay taxes online. This cannot be done while paying through offline mode. You will receive a receipt after your bank initiates the payment of the tax. You can get to know about the money that you paid. You would get to know whether the IT department has received it or not.
#If a bank doesn’t have the facility of online payment, then what can be done? These days this thing is very rare to happen because almost all the banks are now offering net banking options. Unfortunately, if it is the case with you, then you can take someone’s help. Like, ask any of your family members or friend to pay it for you if they have a bank account with a bank offering net banking. #Is it compulsory to pay taxes online, or it can be done through any other mode too? The answer to this question is No. It is not mandatory for anyone to pay it online. You can also go to the offline facility. But, in a fast-growing world, online mode is preferred more because of the ease that it provides. Also Read: 40 Ways to Save Income Tax Legally in India (2020) #What is the remedy for any errors occurring while paying online? In such cases, you can always contact the TIN customer care number. This number is, especially for this purpose. Also, you can send an e-mail to them to tell them about your problem. #What can be done if the counterfoil is lost or misplaced? If the counterfoil is misplaced, you need not worry. You will get another copy of it from your bank. There is a facility to re-generate it. If the bank doesn’t do so, you can request a duplicate challan by registering your request on the website. All the details that you need to know about the online payment of taxes in India are provided above. If you pay income tax online regularly, then you can have a check over it to ensure everything is okay. Even if you do not pay it online till now and you want to start it from the next time, this article would help you a lot in knowing about all the necessities and the procedure to be followed.
