Interest Imposed by the I-T Department – Section 234C

Income Tax Department strives to make it as easy and convenient for citizens to comply with advance tax payments. So, one has the option of paying it in 4 instalments over the financial year.

However, if you still default, there are some consequences in the form of an interest penalty. Basically, Section 234C deals with interest to be levied on defaulters of Advance Tax Instalment Payments. This is the last part in a 3-part series about Interest imposed by the IT Department.

Due dates for paying Advance Tax

The Income Tax department expects you to pay your taxes on time, otherwise, you will be charged interest for late payment, at the time of filing your returns. Advance tax is paid on the following dates of a financial year:

Interest on late payment of advance tax

The interest for late payment is set at 1% on the amount of tax due. It is calculated from the individual cut-off dates shown above, till the date of actual payment of outstanding taxes.

Calculation of Interest under section 234C

The interest on delayed payment of advance tax in case of a taxpayer other than the one opting for presumptive income u/s 44AD is as below.

Criteria under which advance tax interest is not payable

• No interest is payable if there is any shortfall in payment of advance tax due if it is on account of underestimation or failure to estimate the amount of capital gains or speculative income (lottery income, gambling income, etc). 
• The taxpayer has paid in full, the tax payable on the income mentioned above, while paying remaining instalments of advance tax due, or if no instalment is due, the taxpayer pays them before the end of the financial year.

Illustration to calculate interest for late payment

Consider that your total tax liability for this financial year is Rs. 100,000 and it needs to be paid in instalments as explained above. Assume there is no TDS here. If you made partial payments instead, you will be liable to pay interest as per the last column in the table below:

Total interest Payable is  Rs 2600.
Remember, ClearTax automatically calculates the interest under Section 234 for you based on the amounts you enter and the dates.

For better understanding, Read more related articles:

1. Interest Imposed by the IT Department on delay of advance tax payment – Section 234B
2. Interest Imposed by the IT Department – Section 234A

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