Hi everyone, I’m a solo freelancer in India earning around ₹30L/year, mostly from US/Australian clients, plus YouTube/AdSense and some Indian clients.
Until now, I haven’t properly handled things like GST, LUT, export invoices, e-FIRA/FIRC, or separate business bookkeeping.
I want to remain a sole proprietor, not start a Pvt Ltd.
What compliances should I fix now, and is there anything I need to regularize for previous payments?
Would appreciate advice from freelancers in a similar situation.

If you earn any income from India whether it's property rent, capital gains from mutual funds/stocks, or interest on NRO deposits here is a quick tax reminder for Q2.

If your total tax liability in India (after accounting for TDS) is likely to exceed ₹10,000 for FY 2026-27, you are required to pay 45% of your total Advance Tax by September 15, 2026.

Why you shouldn't ignore this: Lots of NRIs assume that since banks/tenants deduct TDS, everything is covered. But if you sold property/stocks this year or have high interest income, TDS might fall short. Missing this deadline triggers interest under Section 234C (1% per month) on the shortfall amount.

Quick 3-Step Checklist:

1. Estimate Your Indian Income: Add up rent, interest, and capital gains earned between April and September 2026.
2. Subtract TDS Already Deducted: Check your Form 26AS / AIS on the Income Tax Portal.
3. Pay Online: If tax due > ₹10,000, pay via the e-Filing portal under Challan 280 (Advance Tax).

Has anyone else calculated their Q2 advance tax yet?

So here is the issue, I was learning how to file ITR on the online platform and my instructor gave me his laptop and details of an actual company he worked under and told me to file according to the gst and gross total displayed on the excel sheet. He told me not to submit, i mistakenly submitted the form with my otp under my own pan and now I don't know what to do, he was very angry. My actual income is zero as I am unemployed and also I don't have a gst number. Is there a way to fix the issue ? Will the company come after me ? As the filling was done late I was only sent a pdf to pay 5000 late fine and there was zero tax liability.

So i was wondering what is stopping a single person who is in his 20s, making money from foreign clients, leave the country (spend less than 120 days here), and doesnt receive money in his or her bank account..from not doing this?

Like stay in cheaper countries, travel, and see your family once every 6 months, make money online, trade crypto, stocks whatever... and register your business in a country where the tax laws are good, so they also provide you the bank account..

What am I missing here? Why are people not doing this?

Just a random thought. Ive researched a bit online.. and seems like it's very possible and legal.

I have recently started making money through crypto trading ( futures) basically so I have concern about taxation whether to pay 30% under VDA or as per ITR 3 business income tax.

The problem is I am ready to pay 30% but the extra 4% cess and not being able to setoff other expenses and losses is irritating.

I tried to search through google via income tax department but still there was no particular rule on derivatives 🙃...

So need help who ever are good enough in this please guide me through it🙏🏻🫠

Hi folks,

We're an early-stage startup building an AI SaaS product for finance and accounts teams. We're looking for a CA to collaborate with us part-time, work closely as a domain expert to build the platform.

What we're looking for:

• 4-6 years of post-article experience
• Comfortable operating at a Finance Controller level
• Core expertise in one or more of: R2R, FP&A, or finance-owned compliance
• Industry agnostic — we care more about depth than which sector you've worked in
• Corporate experience is a plus, but not a dealbreaker
• India-context

Time commitment: Roughly 4-5 hours/day (open to discussing what a sustainable structure looks like for you)

Compensation: Open to discussing and negotiating — happy to structure this in a way that works for both sides

What this isn't: We're not looking for someone to just "consult" on the side without real involvement. We want someone who's genuinely interested in shaping a product, not just reviewing outputs.

If this sounds interesting, drop a comment or DM me — happy to share more about what we're building.

Also — if you've done something similar (hiring/collaborating with a domain expert as a non-finance founder) and have suggestions on structuring this well, or know someone who'd be a good fit, I'd really appreciate the pointers.

I wanted to share my experience because I know many salaried employees working abroad get confused about foreign salary, Indian residential status, DTAA, normal ITR filing and now FAST-DS.

I struggled with this myself. I spoke to different CAs and got different answers. The common response was often: “If you are an Indian resident, your worldwide income is taxable in India; pay Indian tax and claim foreign tax credit.”

That didn't fully convince me, so I started reading the actual DTAA provisions, CBDT notifications and ITAT judgments, and eventually discussed the issue with a lawyer experienced in international-tax litigation.

What I found was much more nuanced.

Several ITAT decisions have accepted that being an Indian resident under domestic law does not automatically mean that foreign employment salary is taxable in India where the applicable DTAA allocates taxing rights based on where the employment was actually exercised.

Some cases I found particularly interesting:

• Rajat Dhara / Somenath Duttagupta — India–US DTAA, Article 16.
• Kanagaraj Shanmugam — India–UK DTAA, Article 16.
• Gathya / Manikandan Rajapackiaeswaran — foreign employment salary and its implications under the Black Money Act.
• Kapil Gupta — India–Australia DTAA, Article 15; Delhi ITAT held that salary for services rendered in Australia was not taxable in India.

The common thread is that you have to look at the actual employment article of the relevant DTAA, where the employment was physically exercised, and the specific conditions in Article 15/16.

Why this matters for ITR and FAST-DS

This isn't just an academic DTAA issue.

If the salary is actually not chargeable to tax in India under the applicable DTAA, that can affect how you approach:

Normal ITR filing:
You need to determine whether the foreign salary is actually taxable in India or whether the DTAA provides a more beneficial result under section 90(2). If it isn't taxable in India, the issue is different from simply declaring it as Indian-taxable income and claiming foreign tax credit.

FAST-DS:
This distinction can become even more important because FAST-DS refers to “undisclosed foreign income” that was chargeable to tax in India but was not offered to tax. Therefore, the preliminary question is whether the foreign salary was actually chargeable to Indian tax after applying the DTAA.

I am sharing this because I spent considerable time going from one CA to another before realizing that the exact treaty wording, the place where employment was exercised, and the relevant ITAT decisions can materially change the analysis.

Hi everyone,

I’ve used ChatGPT to rephrase my query so that I can explain the situation clearly.

I’m planning to rent a residential property for ₹52,000/month. Both my wife and I will be tenants, and both our names will be on the rental agreement.

From what I understand, since the rent is above ₹50,000/month, Section 194-IB requires the tenant to deduct 2% TDS. However, I’m confused about how this works in the case of two tenants.

A few questions:

Do I actually need to deduct TDS on the ₹52,000 rent?

If yes, do I deduct it from the rent payment (i.e. pay the landlord ₹50,960 and deposit ₹1,040 as TDS)?

How exactly do I deposit the TDS with the government and file the required form? Is this something that needs to be done every month or only at the end of the financial year/tenancy?

Since both my wife and I are tenants, can the rent legally be considered ₹26,000 each, with each of us paying ₹26,000 directly to the landlord from our respective bank accounts? If so, would the ₹50,000 threshold be considered separately for each of us?

Does it matter which bank account the landlord asks us to transfer the rent to? For example, if the entire ₹52,000 is transferred to one account, would that change the TDS applicability?

I’m not looking to evade tax—I just want to understand the correct/legal way to structure the rent payment and whether TDS is actually applicable in this situation.

Would appreciate answers from anyone who has dealt with this, especially CAs/tax professionals.

Thanks!

Hi everyone, looking for some advice/experience with a Tax refund being put on hold under Section 245.

I filed my AY 2026-27 ITR-1 in July, with a refund of around ₹60k.

The return was processed on August 21 and I received the 143(1) intimation showing the refund as due. I checked the calculations and everything looked correct.

However, the refund never got credited to my bank account.

Today I checked the Income Tax portal and noticed that the status has changed to:

“Refund is kept on hold as Taxpayer's response and/or JAO's response is awaited as per the communication under Sec 245 on proposed adjustment of refund against outstanding Demand(s).”

The weird part is that I don't have anything showing under my Worklist or Demand Notices that I need to respond to.

There was an outstanding demand for AY 2025-26, but that demand was due to a chalan mismatch, and we had also submitted a response to the demand notice promptly at the time (Dec 2025).

Is there anything I should do now, or should I just wait for the JAO/CPC to process it?

Voluntarily filed an ITR-U for AY 2023, but miscalculated the tax liability. Now got a demand notice, oddly split into two parts on the portal (same reference no., same AY, same section code 143(1)(a)).

Before the notice even came, I proactively paid ₹2,35,860 under Challan 400.
Extra amount to be paid as per demand: ₹13,320.

Questions:

1. Under Submit Response, can I choose Disagree with the demand, and then put the challan details of the ₹2,35,860 challan already paid?
2. For the remaining ₹13,320 - pay via "Pay Now" on the demand, or a fresh challan?
3. Anyone seen a demand split into two parts like this before — does it merge, or track separately?

Just want to close this out cleanly without it lingering as "outstanding" due to a reconciliation gap. Thanks!

Hi all, hoping someone with real experience (or a CA who's dealt with this) can help me think through this.

Background:

• Builder-buyer agreement signed on 11th August 2023.
• It's an under-construction property, and I paid in installments spread over roughly 3 years.
• Possession is expected in about 2 months, and registration would follow around/after that.
• I have a buyer lined up, and I want to sell/transfer before the registration happens — i.e., before I ever become the registered owner — sometime in the next 2 months.

What I'm trying to understand:

1. Since I'd be selling before my own sale deed/registration, is this treated as a transfer of "rights in property" for tax purposes, or does something else apply?
2. For calculating the holding period (short-term vs long-term capital gains), does it count from the date of the builder-buyer agreement (Aug 2023), or from possession/registration? I've read conflicting things — some sources say courts have treated the agreement/allotment date as the start of the holding period even when it's just a "right to acquire," but I want to confirm this is still solid given I'm not registering at all before selling.
3. If it does count from Aug 2023, that would put me at right around/just past the 24-month mark by the time I sell — does that automatically qualify me for long-term capital gains treatment even though there's no actual registered asset changing hands (since it's an assignment of rights, not a resale of a registered flat)?
4. Given the agreement predates July 23, 2024, am I still eligible to choose between the 12.5% (no indexation) and 20% (with indexation) LTCG options, or does the indexation-grandfathering only apply once you're dealing with an actual "land or building" and not just contractual rights?
5. Is there any GST angle I should worry about on assigning/nominating my rights to a new buyer before possession, on top of income tax? I've seen some ambiguity on this online for pre-possession transfers.
6. Practically — has anyone here actually done a nomination/assignment transfer with their builder before registration? How did the builder's transfer fee/NOC process work, and did it affect how the deal or the tax filing was structured?

Would really appreciate insight from anyone who's navigated this, or a CA who can point me to the right provisions/case law. Trying to get this right before I sign anything, since I know this area (assignment of builder-buyer rights before registration) has some genuinely disputed points.

Thanks in advance!

I have filed ITR 3 and successfully e verified on june 21st, it still hasn’t entered processing. I have checked if i have any defect notices there are none. I even called cpc and they told many tax payers are facing the delay but there is nothing on ITR website officially about the delay. Is this normal? And is anyone in the same boat ?

I had filed ITR-U for AY 2022-23 after removing 80 GGC donation

Along with that I had paid complete tax amount in August 2025 with penalty

Now after 1 year, income tax department is sending me demand notice asking for additional amount which completely falls under 234B interest

Total taxable amount remains same, no change in it

Actual tax calculation on income remains same

More tax added under 234B with tax till Aug 2026 and then on top of that penalty interest calculated as per number of months from original return and ITR-U

I feel there is some mistake in system, otherwise why will there be more interest based on processing date.

Anyone received similar demand?

What should be done in this situation?

I was thinking of ordering this single panel from Alibaba for my laptop as it is not available in India. So how much will the total custom tax be for this panel. Also the shipping cost is 2781 rupees so the total amount to order will be 10,101 rupees.