How to pay your income tax directly through your bank

If you are an individual or a company and earn a taxable income, you must file your tax returns. You can file your taxes online using your net banking account, and avoid all the hassles of long queues and heaps of paperwork.

Points to note

1. To pay income tax through your bank, you need to activate the net banking facilities with your bank. Payment of taxes cannot be made using credit cards. However, those with a State Bank of India account can use their debit cards to pay their taxes.
2. If your bank is not one of the designated banks by the government, you can use your friend’s or relative’s account. However, ensure that you write your PAN number in the challan.
3. You can still pay income tax offline. Just take your challan to an authorized bank.

Steps to pay tax through your bankPoints to note

1. Go to www.tin-nsdl.com and choose E–payment: Pay Taxes Online. You will be directed to a page where different challans are listed. Select challan no. 280.
2. Next, choose between Tax Applicable for Other Than Companies.
3. Fill in the details like you PAN, assessment year, address, email id and mobile number. Your full name will be displayed when you click on the proceed button after you have completed the challan.
4. Choose the Tax Payable Option – Advance Tax or Self Assessment Tax or Tax on Regular Assessment or Surtax or Tax on Distributed Profits or Tax on Distributed income. For example, if you are paying tax in advance in anticipation of tax liability, then choose advance tax. If you are paying tax for the previous financial year (for example if you are paying for FY 2015-16 on July 31, 2016), then choose self-assessment tax.
5. Enter the bank’s name where you have an activated net banking account.
6. Once you click on proceed, it will take you to your bank’s site. Use your login to enter your user ID and password.
7. Fill in your income tax amount; surcharge (if any) and education cess. Once you fill up these details, you will see your total tax amount.
8. Now, you can go ahead and make the payment. You will get a Challan Identification Number that you need to save for records. You can recover the CIN from your bank for up to 90 days.

Besides you might also want to know how to calculate your tax. Here are some quick steps for the same. You can calculate your income tax with the help tax calculator on Income Tax India website.

1. Put in your assessment year (starting April 1st and ending on March 31st) for which you intend to pay tax. For the income you earned in 2015-2016, your assessment year is 2016-2017 (2015-16 is the financial year).
2. Mention whether you are an individual, corporate or HUF
3. Declare your nationality status whether Resident or NRI.
4. Put in details like gender and whether you’re a citizen of India.