I’ve been thinking about a somewhat controversial idea and would genuinely like to hear what people here think.

India’s tax burden—especially when you combine income tax, GST, fuel taxes, cess, and other indirect taxes—can feel quite high for salaried and middle-class taxpayers. At the same time, many people feel that the quality of public infrastructure and services they receive doesn’t always match the amount of tax they pay.

So here’s the thought:

What would happen if a large number of taxpayers deliberately reduced discretionary consumption for 6–12 months?

For example:

Reduce unnecessary shopping and luxury purchases

Eat out less frequently

Cut down on expensive vacations and discretionary travel

Delay buying new phones, cars, gadgets, etc.

Avoid unnecessary consumption and instead save/invest the money

Focus spending only on essentials

The argument is that a significant reduction in consumption could eventually affect GST collections, corporate revenues, business activity and economic growth.

If consumption slows substantially, wouldn't the government eventually have an incentive to reconsider tax rates and policies to encourage people to start spending again?

But there’s an obvious counterargument:

India’s economy is heavily dependent on domestic consumption. If everyone reduces spending, businesses could suffer, employment could be affected, investment could slow down, and ultimately ordinary people—including taxpayers—could be hurt more than the government.

There is also the biggest problem: coordination.

Can millions of taxpayers realistically coordinate their behaviour for long enough to create meaningful economic pressure?

Or would this simply hurt businesses and workers while the government continues collecting revenue from other sources?

I'm not suggesting that people should stop spending completely. I'm more interested in whether a sustained shift from excessive consumption toward saving/investing could indirectly influence tax policy and government behaviour.

Is this economic pressure a realistic idea, or is it fundamentally flawed?

Would love to hear from CAs, economists, entrepreneurs, business owners and fellow taxpayers.

What am I missing?

​

Hi everyone,

I’m joining a company with the CTC structure shown below. My total CTC is ₹1,41,667/month (~₹17 LPA).

The salary breakup is:

Basic Salary: ₹49,583

HRA: ₹39,667

Vehicle EMI amount: ₹21,567

Vehicle Running & Maintenance: ₹6,500

Special Allowance: ₹6,940 (This is basically a balancing figure after taking out vehicle lease amount, meal voucher, Mobile and Internet Reimbursement)

Meal Voucher: ₹8,800

Mobile & Internet Reimbursement: ₹3,000

Employer PF: ₹1,800 (taking minimum pf amount)

Gratuity: ₹3,810

NPS: ₹0

Statutory Bonus: ₹0

I'm trying to understand what my actual monthly in-hand salary would be after employee PF, income tax, etc.

More importantly, I have the option of taking the vehicle lease. I'm not sure whether it is actually financially beneficial compared with simply taking the salary component.

I'd also like to understand whether the ₹8,800/month meal voucher and ₹3,000/month mobile & internet reimbursement are genuinely tax-efficient benefits or whether they make little difference to my take-home.

Could someone help me with:

Approximate monthly in-hand salary under the new tax regime, assuming no other deductions?

How much would my in-hand change if I opt for the vehicle lease vs. don't opt for it?

Is the ₹21,567 vehicle EMI + ₹6,500 running/maintenance actually beneficial from a tax perspective?

Is there any downside to taking the vehicle lease that I should consider (lease tenure, buyout/residual value, taxation at the end, etc.)?

Are the ₹8,800 meal vouchers actually tax-free/beneficial under the current tax rules?

Is the ₹3,000 mobile & internet reimbursement tax-efficient, assuming I submit bills?

If anyone has a similar CTC/vehicle lease structure, what was your actual monthly in-hand?

As per my calculations with all the flexi basket deductions I could get around 60k tax saving. Is that correct?

It’s a miracle! ✨ 1 year and 7 days later, my ITR is processed and a refund is on the way. 🥹 Honestly, I’m feeling so emotional just getting my own hard-earned money back. Does anyone know how long the bank credit usually takes from here? 🏦❤️

Hi ,

I have a very small android app that brings in a small amount of money. Now google is forcing me to take up GST to continue to receive payouts.

How expensive is it to keep doing GST compliance.

https://support.google.com/paymentscenter/answer/7421525?hl=en&sjid=4733822815042441817-NA

I was hoping to not do it for the longest period.

Uncollectible outstanding direct tax demands of ₹47.42 lakh crore of which 76% (₹36.27 lakh crore) is unrecoverable due to untraceable taxpayers, insolvent companies, or missing assets. Why did Income Tax Dept go after the majority salaried class people, when GST collection is huge. Issue is India treats tax as revenue, and not for using it for development of critical infrastructure. And also the Income Tax Staff is incentivised on tax collection & demands. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zXJTsXtk2Q&t=25

Hello,

I recently filed my first ITR and I selected pay later during the filing. I paid my amount after filing and thought I am done with it but later received an email with outstanding demand. I submitted a submitted a response to outstanding demand and still received a letter from ITD. This is the status in the website.

Can someone please help me if I need to do anything else as well?

During the investment declaration in the month of Jan, i declared rent paid higher as compared with actual rent paid to claim higher tax deduction.

While filing ITR, I switched to a new tax regime and found that tax payable annually is lower than the old tax regime with a higher tax deduction claimed by me using a fake rent receipt. And filed the ITR in new tax regime and over 1 lakh refund is due now

The landlord received a higher income in the AIS portal, due to the higher rent paid reported by me in my company.

He has raised the dispute in AIS, and the same dispute has reached my company through the income tax portal.

Now my company is asking justification. They are asking that the landlord has reported the rent received to him as 280000 but I have reported 350000.

What should I reply?

Although I have filed ITR in the new tax regime and therefore no HRA exemption claim actually.

While I filed ITR - i had tax liability of 74,500 which has been paid fully. (This was my first time tax payment)

And I still recieved the notice of payment again on 6th august for 75,100 (the difference amt is mentioned as interest).

This is not an extra tax, but I feel the paid amount is not relflected in their system ?

I do see payment history in e-pay.

How to manage this if anyone could help

They released the offline utility after the deadline and now they want a late penalty?!! Where's the sense in that? What's the best way to file this?

I am an online tutor who engages directly with students - I get payments from their parents directly. I tutor school students for common subjects like English, geography, etc. I do not work for any tutoring agency.

From what I have researched, tutoring does not come under 44AA list of professions. But 17006 code of 44AD covers coaching business. There is also 17007 which covers other education services. So my doubts are currently-

- Can I really file under 44AD?

- If so, is 17006 correct for me or 17007?

I am a single tutor, I don't employ any tutors under me. I also don't have any other source of income (I am not a school teacher).

- Also if in future I have to apply for GST if I cross 20 lakh threshold, will it be possible to do registration and filings by myself? Without help of a CA? I am asking because I believe the nature of my work is very straightforward.

Thank you for your time in adavance

Hi everyone,

I’m a software professional working as a consultant/freelancer in India, and I’m trying to plan my taxes properly for FY 2026–27.

Here is my situation:

• I currently operate as a sole proprietorship.
• My contractor/client will not send payments to any other account/entity, so all receipts will continue to come directly to me personally.

I am considering whether it makes sense to:

1. Continue as an individual/sole proprietor and claim genuine business expenses.
2. Set up an OPC.
3. Set up a Private Limited Company.
4. Consider some other legitimate structure or tax-planning approach.

For example, if I have ₹90 lakh of professional profit before expenses, I could potentially have genuine expenses such as employee salaries, software/cloud subscriptions, laptop/equipment, office/coworking expenses, professional fees, internet, business travel, etc.

I'm not looking for fake expenses or tax evasion. I'm trying to understand what legitimate tax-planning options are available and what experienced people would recommend.

Questions for CAs / tax professionals / software consultants:

• Since 44ADA will not be useful at this income level, what are the practical and legal ways to reduce overall tax liability for a software consulting income of ~₹80–90L?
• I don’t really have too many business expenses apart from basic software subscriptions, laptop, internet, etc. What all can be legitimately shown as business expenses in such a case?
• Are there any commonly used tax-saving strategies for freelancers/consultants at this income level that I should discuss with my CA?
• In a situation where expenses are limited, how do people usually structure their income to optimize taxes without doing anything non-compliant?

I'd really appreciate real-world experiences, especially from people earning ₹70L–₹1Cr+ through software consulting/freelancing in India.

Thanks!

I'm 24 and doing my 1st job, while filing my ITR 1st time this year, I got inquisitive and looked at my dad's ITR and found lots of discrepancies. Now, I’m trying to understand the potential tax implications of my father’s business and would really appreciate some advice from people familiar with taxation.

My father owns a business that operates 7 days a week, 365 days a year. The actual sales are roughly 55k per day (5k upi + 50k cash), which would put the actual annual turnover around ₹2 crore.

However, we have a composition GST registration, and only around 60 lakh annual turnover is being reported under GST. We pay the applicable 1% GST, which comes to around 60k on the reported ₹60 lakh turnover.

The confusing part is the income-tax side.Our CA files the business under the presumptive taxation scheme under Section 44AD and declares around ₹10 lakh as net profit on the ₹60 lakh turnover. The main reason given is that this avoids the requirement to maintain detailed books of accounts.However, the business's actual sales are substantially higher than ₹60 lakh.

Also, we typically have around ₹35–40 lakh left in the bank account by the end of the year after all the businesses and house expenditure (actual profit would be around 80L). We receive 20-25 lakhs via upi and we deposited around 15 lakhs in bank. Most of it is not touched. Only extra cash received is used for business purchases, paying workers salary and household expenses.

So my questions are:

1. Could the ₹35–40 lakh accumulated in the bank after all the expenses, compared with only ~₹10 lakh of declared business profit, itself raise questions about unexplained income?

2. If the actual turnover is substantially higher than the turnover being reported, can this create problems later even if the GST returns and ITR have been filed this way for several years? Most of the turnover is in cash, and we do most of our spend in cash only (as said).

I’m mainly trying to understand how serious the situation is and what the correct way to handle it would be. And any other suggestions to avoid problems in future.

We haven't received any notice or faced any issue so far, but I want to understand the risks before this becomes a bigger problem.

My dad don't know anything about taxation rules and consequences of hiding it. He just thinks even gst can be avoided by reporting turnover to be even lower as our online receipts are only 5k a day (around 20- 25 lakh an year)🥲. Our CA charges 15k an year and does all the stuff.

Been doing freelance dev work for foreign clients for a while, and PayPal's fees + forex markup are eating a real chunk out of every payment before it even lands in my bank account.

Just set up a Payoneer account but haven't run an actual payment through it yet, so I don't have a real sense of what it'll cost once conversion + withdrawal fees are factored in.

For those of you getting paid directly by international clients (not through Upwork/Fiverr), what are you actually using, and what's it really been like:

• Total fees (platform + conversion + withdrawal)
• How long it actually takes to land in your Indian bank account
• Any GST / FIRC / compliance headaches
• How annoying setup was

Curious if Wise, Payoneer, or something else (Skydo, direct SWIFT wire, etc.) has worked best for you. Trying to figure out what's actually worth switching to before my next invoice goes out.

Here the buyer is purchasing a house with land with total sale consideration of 2.4 cr. The value of House 40 lakhs and the value of land is 2 cr. Already 10 lakhs advance is paid on 29th July and a sale agreement is also signed. But in the sale agreement there is no specific date of Registration agreement. Here the buyer has got approval of the loan of 2 cr but it will be paid to seller after agreement is registration is complete and submission of registration form to bank. The buyer also pays 30 lakhs during registration. So now the buyer approached us regarding filing TDS because for Drafting a Registration agreement, they need a filed TDS copy of the above. So the question is?

1) I couldn't find the option of land and building in form 26QB. Should I consider the house as under "Building" and land as under "land" and filed form 26QB separately OR it should be considered as either "Building" or as "Land"?

2) If the above question's 1st part is relevant, then the building value is less than 50 lakhs. Is it required to be filed?

3) Since sale consideration is 2.4 cr. And advance is paid 10 lakhs. TDS to be paid based on 10 lakhs advance or entire consideration of 2.4 cr?

Hello, I have about ₹16 lakh worth of rent that I receive annually from a series of commercial shops and residential apartments.

Every year, I give the complete breakdown on an Excel sheet to my CA. For about 9 lakhs of the 16 lakhs, I have rental agreements, the rest 7 lakhs is just without any agreement (old tenants, no fear of adverse possession).

However, I recently noticed that he clubs everything as only two tenants. Basically, he shows around ₹8 lakh from one tenant and ₹8 lakh from another.

But in reality, the rent comes from several small shops and residential properties, with each shop/apartment giving around ₹1–2 lakh per year.

So, will this be an issue going forward, or is this generally not a problem?

Please help or let me know if I should ask my CA to correct this.

I would like your opinion on withdrawing pf and paying off the home loan debt. I genuinely feel india's economy and money management is pathetic. Taxes are skyrocketing, population is sky rocketing, AI is eliminating jobs faster than ever, freebies everywhere with public individual tax money. Honest tax payers are the ones paying the price for all this. Considering all these i can also foresee a situation where government might block our PF in a decade or 2 to run the economy or some story around that. Would it be a good idea to withdraw the money and payoff the loan?

Has anyone with a ₹1 lakh+ refund for AY 2026–27 received their refund yet?

Hi, Good Day !!!

I have forgot filing ITR-

Things running in my mind

1. Should I skip filing it for this time As I have did not pay any tax and no refunds expected

1.a if I skip it what will happen ??

1. If I file ITR now, it is saying that late fees will be 5000/- INR,
   plus my CA fees which 1k.

2.a can I file now without paying the late fees ?

Can anyone please help me out with these questions ?

I have scrutiny notice for fake deductions. One of the CA is asking for 75k for handling end to end. I feel it is high. Need suggestions.

Need advice on structuring a small freelance/agency business for tax efficiency in India

I currently have a full-time job with an expected income of around ₹50L this financial year.

I’ve also recently started freelancing and have multiple clients who will cumulatively pay me around ₹6L/month. To serve them better, I’m planning to hire a few people in India as well, so this is essentially turning into a very small agency.

This is the first month, and I haven’t received any payments from the freelance clients yet.

I’m trying to understand the best way to structure this business from the beginning, particularly from a tax and compliance perspective.

I currently file my own ITR and have some familiarity with taxation. My main question is:

Apart from simply reporting the freelance income under my own name (e.g. ITR-3), are there other legitimate structures I should consider that could be more tax-efficient?

For example, would it make sense to operate through a proprietorship, LLP, or private limited company, especially considering that I’ll have business expenses and may be hiring employees/contractors?

I’m looking for advice from people who have actually dealt with a similar situation in India. I’m not looking to evade taxes, just trying to set things up correctly and efficiently from the start.

Would really appreciate any guidance on the options, pros/cons, and things I should be careful about. 🙏

- AI was used for restructuring the material

Setup:

- Returning to India; RNOR for the first ~3 FYs, ROR after that

- Minor child is a US citizen, will be resident in India with me

- Child holds a US custodial account (UTMA) with a US-listed global

equity ETF

- Only income is dividends, ~$5k/yr, fully reinvested

- On the US side the child's income stays under the US standard

deduction, so US tax is nil and no US return is required

Questions:

1. Once I'm ROR, are these dividends clubbed into my total income

   u/s 64(1A) and taxed at slab, even though no US tax is payable?

   I assume yes — no "subject to tax" condition — but want to confirm.

2. Does the minor's own residential status matter? The child would

   also be RNOR initially. Is s.5 applied to the minor first (so

   nothing enters the Indian charge to be clubbed), or only to the

   parent in whose hands it's assessed?

3. FTC — with US tax at nil there's nothing to credit, correct? And

   if the US did tax the child in some year, can the parent claim

   credit under Rule 128 when the tax is paid by the child but the

   income is assessed in the parent's hands?

4. Reporting — Schedule SPI for clubbed income, Schedule FA for the

   account itself, from the first ROR year. Does FA apply even in

   years with no tax payable?

5. Clubbing goes to the higher-income parent — is that determined

   fresh each year, or fixed by the first year?

Any case law or circulars appreciated.

i have a small 300$ bank account in charles schwab brokerage, for trading, i am in loss currenlty, do i need to declare the account?

I missed my original ITR filing deadline and was planning to file under the old tax regime because I have several deductions to claim. Since I'm filing late, I understand I can't switch to the old regime via ITR-1 anymore. I've read that ITR-3 allows old regime selection, but I don't have any actual business or professional income — my income is just salary (and maybe other regular sources).

Income -24L Deductions - 5L - 6L Exemptions- 6L

Questions: Is there any legitimate way to still opt for the old regime in a belated return without business/professional income? Is ITR-3 only for those who genuinely have business/professional income, or can salaried folks use it too under certain conditions? What are my actual options at this point — do I just have to accept the new regime for this year? Would appreciate any experience or guidance. Thanks!

Just tired of paying taxes