Nov 24, 2012

Due date for payment of Service Tax and Late Payment Panelty

DUE DATE FOR PAYMENT OF SERVICE TAX


As per the service tax rules framed by the Government of India, Payment of Service Tax should be made at regular intervals. The service tax collected by the service provider shall be paid to the credit of Central Government on a regular basis before the due date for payment of service tax and in case of late payment of service tax - interest shall also be payable on the late payment as prescribed.

In case you are still not sure about rates of service tax, you can check the current rates in force by referring here - Service Tax Rates.

As per rule 6 of the service tax rules 1994, the due date for payment of service tax is separate for individual/partnership firms and others.

FOR INDIVIDUAL/ PARTNERSHIP FIRMS 

The due date for payment of service tax in case of individual/partnership firm is 5th of the following quarter in which payment is received or service is provided whichever is earlier. However, in case the service tax provider opt for online payment, he is given a grace period of 1 days and thus the due date for payment of service tax is 6th of the following quarter.




FOR OTHERS

For all service tax payers (except individuals and partnership firms), the DUE DATE for payment of service tax is 5th or 6th (Depending upon mode of payment) of the following month in which payment is collected or service is provided which ever is earlier. 



LATE PAYMENT OF SERVICE TAX

In case there is late payment of service tax to the Central Government, the payment shall be made along with interest compounded @18% (Simple Interest). Earlier the interest rate on late payment of service tax was 13% but increased to 18% from 1st April, 2011.

OTHER RELEVANT POINT

  1. If there is excess payment is made by mistake or due to any other reason, the excess amount paid may be adjusted against the service tax liability in the coming period or may claim refund of service tax if self adjustment is not possible.
  2. If any person liable to pay service tax has collected an amount is excess of the amount due from the service recipient, the whole of such amount collected in excess shall be deposited with central Government.
  3. If the payment is made by way of cheque, the date of payment of service tax shall be the date of cheque rather than the date of clearing of cheque. 

Due dates for filing of TDS/TCS returns

Due dates for filing of TDS/TCS returns are as below:
[Subject to Extension by the CBDT for specific quarters of a particular FY]

Quarter
Form Nos. 24Q & 26Q
Form No. 27Q
Form No. 27EQ
April to June15 July15 July15 July
July to September15 October15 October15 October
October to December15 January15 January15 January
January to March15 May15 May15 May
Late filing consequences
Following are the consequences for delayed filing of TDS returns.
  1. There is a penalty provision of Rs 100 per day, for delayed filing of Quarterly statement under TDS or TCS.
  2. The filing and thereby consequences are treated separately for Form 24Q, 26Q, 27Q and 27EQ.

Nov 23, 2012

Advance Tax Payment : Due Date and Interest on Late Payment


If the income tax liability of any assessee is more than Rs.10,000.00 in any financial year, then he is liable to pay such tax in installments during the year itself rather than paying this tax at the end of the year. This tax which is payable during the year is called "Advance Tax"  or pay as you earn tax as tax is liable to be paid at the time of income to be earned, i.e. during the year rather than paying this tax at the end of the year.

Advance tax receipts help the government to receive the constant flow of tax receipt throughout the year, so that expenses can be incurred rather than receiving all tax payments at the end of year. Advance tax liable to be paid by all assessee like Salaried, Self Employed, Businessman, etc. before the filling of Income Tax Return.

For the Individuals with the salary as the sole source of income, advance tax would be taken care of by the TDS deducted by the employer at the time of payment of salaries as reflected in form 16 and thus there would hardly be any advance tax payable.For all assessee earning income from any source other than salary, advance tax is payable in installments as explained below.


PAYMENT OF ADVANCE TAX

Advance tax is liable to be paid as per the following schedule :


Assessee other than Companies
Due Date Amount Payable
On or before 15th September Not less than 30% of the advance tax liability
On or before 15th December Not less than 60% of the advance tax liability as reduced by the amount if any, paid in earlier installment
On or before 15th March 100% of the advance tax liability as reduced by the amount if any, paid in earlier installment

In case of Companies
Due Date Amount Payable
On or before 15th June Not less than 15% of the advance tax liability
On or before 15th September Not less than 45% of the advance tax liability as reduced by the amount if any, paid in earlier installment
On or before 15th December Not less than 75% of the advance tax liability as reduced by the amount if any, paid in earlier installment
On or before 15th March 100% of the advance tax liability as reduced by the amount if any, paid in earlier installment 

Payment of advance Income tax is to be made through Callan no. 280 by selecting advance tax (100) as the type of payment.


COMPUTATION OF ADVANCE TAX

Advance tax is liable to be paid by estimating the current year income and then applying the tax rates as per the Income Tax Slabs in force. The Advance tax shall be computed as under :

Add/Less Particular Amount
Income under 5 heads xxx
Less: Brought Forward losses and allowance xxx
Gross total Income xxx
Less: Chapter VI-A Deduction xxx
Estimated Total Income xxx
Tax on Estimated total income xxx
Add: Surcharge (if any) xxx
Total tax Payable xxx
Less: Relief U/S 89 xxx
Tax Liability xxx
Add: 2% Education Cess xxx
Add: 1% SAHEC xxx
Total tax Liability xxx
Less: Relief u/s 90, 90A, 91 xxx
Less: MAT Credit u/s 115JA xxx
Less: TDS as shown in form 16/16A and reflected in form 26AS xxx
Advance Tax Liability xxx



PAYMENT OF ADVANCE TAX IN CASE OF CAPITAL GAINS

Although Advance tax is liable to be paid on all incomes including Capital Gains. It is not practically possible to estimate the capital gains which may arise in an year. Therefore, in such cases, it is provided that if any such income arises after the due date of any installment, then the entire amount of tax payable on such capital gain (after claiming exemption under section 54) shall be paid in remaining installments of capital gains which are due. If the entire amount of tax payable is so paid, then no interest on late payment will be leviable.

INTEREST ON LATE PAYMENT OF ADVANCE TAX

If the income tax is not payable as per the above schedule, interest is liable to be paid late payment of advance tax as follows :

  1. Interest under section 234C - Interest @ 1% p.m. is payable if the tax is not paid as per the above schedule, i.e. for Deferment of advance tax.
  2. Interest under section 234B - Interest @ 1% p.m. is payable if 90% of the tax is not paid before the end of the financial year, i.e. default in payment of advance tax.
For computing interest u/s 234A/B/C and any other interest income, Tax shall be rounded off to nearest hundred and fraction of hundred shall be ignored.

IN CASE ADVANCE TAX PAID BY ASSESSEE IS MORE THAN HIS ACTUAL INCOME TAX LIABILITY, THEN HE CAN CLAIM REFUND OF INCOME TAX BY FURNISHING HIS INCOME TAX RETURN.

Tax on Interest on Saving Bank Account




INTEREST ON SAVING BANK ACCOUNT

Earlier the interest on saving bank account were fixed by the RBI and was 4% p.a. These interest rate were controlled by RBI and all banks were required to pay the same interest rate irrespective of the amount of money kept in the bank.

But on 25th October'11 RBI regularized the system of fixing the interest rates. This de-regularization meant that all banks were now free to fix the interest rates to be paid.This lead to different banks paid different rates and this is how this should be in a free economy.

Moreover, RBI stated that Banks can also opt for the option of paying differential interest rates, i.e. it can pay differential interest rates if the amount is less than Rs.100,000.00 and a different interest for amount over Rs.100,000.00

After this announcement of de-regularization of interest rates, different banks have started paying different interest rates. To attract more customers to open saving bank account in their banks, banks have also started paying high interest on saving bank account which has ultimately benefit to customer. From 4% p.a. being paid on saving bank account prior to the de-regularization, the interest rates have shot up considerably with some banks paying as high as 6-7% p.a.

COMPUTATION OF INTEREST ON SAVING BANK ACCOUNT

Another change which has come after this de-regularization of interest rates is in the manner of computation of interest. Earlier interest was paid on the minimum balance kept in the bank during the month. Thus, if you have Rs.90,000.00 in your bank account for the whole month and for 1 day balance is Rs.10,000.00, you would be paid interest only on Rs.10,000.00 and not on Rs.90,000.00.

But now this has changed and the interest is paid on a daily basis on the end of day balance in the account. This has again benefited the customer as they would now be earning more interest not only due to higher interest rates but also due to change in the manner of computation.

TAX ON INTEREST ON SAVING ACCOUNT

The interest earned on saving bank account was earlier taxable as per the slab rates. But w.e.t 1st April'12 an amendment has been brought in the Income Tax Act and a deduction of Rs.10,000.00 is allowed under section 80TTA for interest earned from :

1. SAVING BANK ACCOUNT
2. CO-OPERATIVE BANKS
3. POST OFFICE SAVING SCHEMES

The amount earned over and above this Rs.10,000.00 would be liable to tax as per the Income Tax Slab Rates.
This exemption is only available to individuals and HUF's and is over and above the deduction provided under section 80C.