Financial Reporting

Important Financial Deadlines you can’t afford to miss

If you are a taxpayer or an investor, then there are various deadlines that you cannot afford to miss. These deadlines range from filing belated income tax returns to linking your Aadhaar and PAN, among various other compliances. If left unfulfilled, you will end up paying high penalties which can burn a hole in your pocket. In this article, we will take a look at some of the important financial deadlines that can impact your financial life.

Financial Deadlines for the month of March

• Make tax saving investments

The current financial year that is 2021-22, will end on March 31. Hence you should consider tax saving investments if you haven’t already. You can maximize tax benefits under different sections. You should not wait till the last moment and look to do it as soon as possible to avoid investment mistakes. Tax planning is essential for financial planning hence you need to ensure that your tax saving investments are aligned with your goals and strategy.

• File belated income tax returns

The last date to file ITR has already expired for Financial Year 2020-21 or Assessment Year 2021-22 however you can still file a belated income tax return. The last date to file belated tax return is March 31, 2022. Belated return refers to the return which is filed after due date. Hence as a taxpayer, you cannot afford to miss this deadline if you haven’t filed already. It is worth mentioning here that a belated ITR attracts a late filing fee of 1k rupees if the gross total taxable income during the FY is not more than 5 lakh rupees or 5k rupees otherwise.

• Link your PAN-Aadhaar

The last date for linking PAN and Aadhaar have been extended time and again. Now the last date has been notified as 31, March. Earlier the last date was September 30, 2021. Once this deadline ends, all PAN cards not linked with Aadhaar will become inoperative. It will have severe repercussions as you won’t be able to make important financial transactions if your PAN is not linked with Aadhaar. There are other uses of PAN cards as well, such as you will need a PAN for opening a bank account, to buy mutual funds or shares and also for making cash transactions of more than 50000 rupees. Financial institutions may require PAN for KYC process. Hence PAN is a very important thing for financial needs. In case you don’t link these two documents, then a penalty may be imposed.

In order to link PAN and Aadhaar, you can link through the e-filing website or you can do it offline through the PAN services centre of NSDL and UTIITSL.

Or else you can send an SMS in the prescribed format to 567678 or 56161. The format to be followed is – UIDPAN- 12 digit Aadhaar Number- 10 digit PAN number.

• Update KYC in bank accounts

The last date to update KYC in bank accounts is 31, March 2022. This earlier deadline for the same was 31 December 2021, and the Reserve Bank had extended this deadline citing rise in omicron cases in India. For verification purposes, banks ask account holders to update KYC hence customers are required to visit bank branches along with identity proof and address proof. Now KYC details of customers can be updated digitally. This process is called video KYC. Banks such as SBI allow customers to submit their document via email or post as well to update KYC. Please note that you cannot afford to miss this deadline otherwise, it may result in accounts being frozen by bank.  Various legislations such as the prevention of money laundering act and the prevention of money laundering (Maintenance of Records) Rules necessitate entities to fulfil KYC norms.  

• Payment of Advance tax instalment

In case where your annual income tax in the current financial year is minimum 10k, then as per Income Tax Rules, you need to pay advance income tax. You can pay it in instalments. This rule shall apply to every taxpayer, freelancers, and businesses. The resident senior citizen not having any income from business or profession is exempted from paying advance tax. Further, a salaried individual not having any income other than salary doesn’t require paying advance tax instalments. The employers deduct the tax from their salary itself. If you are liable to pay advance tax, then you should do so to avoid penalty.

• PMAY subsidy

Another important deadline is related to the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana^[1]. The last date to get the benefit PMAY credit linked subsidy scheme for the lower income group and economically weaker section is March 31, 2022. The Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana aims to provide affordable housing to the economically weaker sections/ low income group. The PMAY program was implemented in 3 phases. Out of these two have been finished and the third and final phase which began in 2019 will come to an end on March 31, 2022.

Some other deadlines

• The due date for payment of PF contribution for February is March 15, 2022;
• The due date for payment of ESI contribution for February is March 15, 2022;
• The due date for filing e-forms such as AOC -4, AOC 4 (CFS), AOC 4 (XBRL), non-XBRL is March 15, 2022.

Conclusion

There are various financial deadlines that fall in the month of March and which have a direct impact to your financial life. Whether it is filing belated tax returns, making tax saving investments, linking your PAN with Aadhaar or payment of advance tax, all these can have adverse consequences if you fail to meet the deadline. Therefore the deadlines mentioned above should be on your radar in order to stay on top of your financial obligations and to avoid paying penalties. 

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