Advance Tax Calculator

Salaried people usually never think about advance tax, because their employer deducts it every month. Freelancers, consultants, traders and landlords are different: nobody withholds anything, or not enough, so the law expects you to pay as you earn. This page tells you how much to pay on each of the four dates, and, if you have already paid, what interest you may owe for paying late.

Who has to pay in advance

If your tax for the year, after subtracting tax already deducted at source or collected, is 10,000 or more, advance tax applies. The page tests that threshold and says so in plain words. Resident senior citizens with no business income are exempt, which the notes on the page point out. Enter your total tax including cess, and the TDS or TCS credit you expect; the Income Tax Calculator gives the first figure.

The four dates

The tax is paid in cumulative shares: 15 percent by 15 June, 45 percent in total by 15 September, 75 percent in total by 15 December, and the full 100 percent by 15 March. The table lists the cumulative amount due by each date and the size of each separate instalment. Taxpayers whose income is entirely under section 44AD or 44ADA pay everything in one go by 15 March, which you select with a toggle.

A worked example

The default is a freelancer with total tax of 2,40,000 and 60,000 already deducted, so 1,80,000 is left. The instalments are 27,000 by 15 June, 54,000 by 15 September, 54,000 by 15 December and 45,000 by 15 March, and the cumulative totals are 27,000, 81,000, 1,35,000 and 1,80,000. The presumptive sample, with 1,50,000 of tax and no TDS, shows nothing due until 15 March, when the whole 1,50,000 falls due.

Interest for paying late

Enter what you actually paid by each date, as a running total. Say you paid nothing by June, 60,000 by September, 1,10,000 by December and the full 1,80,000 by March. The page finds a June shortfall of 27,000, a September shortfall of 21,000 and a December shortfall of 25,000. Each earns 1 percent a month for 3 months, so the interest is 810, 630 and 750, a total of about 2,190. The March instalment is complete, so it adds nothing.

The relief rules

Section 234C does not charge interest on the first two instalments if you have paid at least 12 percent by 15 June and 36 percent by 15 September. The page checks this against your entry before it counts a shortfall. For the last instalment the interest period is one month rather than three, because the date is 15 March and the year ends on 31 March.

Edge cases

A liability below 10,000 shows “no” for advance tax and leaves out the total to pay and the interest line. If you leave all four paid boxes empty, the table shows only what is due. An entry of 0 means you paid nothing by that date and counts as a shortfall. The interest is an estimate, because the tax authority works it out on your final tax, not on a projection.

Limits

Interest under section 234B, charged when less than 90 percent of the tax is paid by 31 March, and under 234A for a late return, is not included. Income that arrives late in the year, such as a capital gain, can be treated differently from the schedule shown, and the page does not model that. Treat the amounts as a plan, and use the challan details from the portal when you pay.

Related tools

• TDS Calculator shows what a payer should deduct from you, which reduces the balance here.
• 44ADA Tax Calculator estimates the tax of a professional on presumptive income.
• 44AD Tax Calculator does the same for a small trader or shop.
• GST Interest Calculator covers the separate interest on late GST payments.