Income Tax Challan 280: Online and Offline Methods to Pay

Ashish M. Shaji

13 Jul, 2021

The method of paying income tax has been simplified over the years. However, there has been confusion among the taxpayers on how to pay the income taxes.  A considerable amount of time and money is invested by taxpayers in knowing the income tax system of India. The income tax challan 280 is one such part of this system that needs to be understood. 

What is Income Tax Challan 280?

A taxpayer may pay his or her income tax in physical form through selected branches of different banks, or they may pay digitally through internet. The Income Tax Department has made available certain forms such as ITNS 280, ITNS 281 and ITNS 282. These forms should be filled while paying taxes.

Each of these forms have different purposes, and the taxpayer should select relevant form. For instance, if TDS has to be filed by an employer, then the employer must file ITNS 281 with the tax payment. Likewise, if wealth tax. Gift tax etc. has to be paid by a taxpayer, then such taxpayer should file ITNS 282 with the tax payment.

ITNS 280 has to be filed with the income tax department when an individual taxpayer makes an advance tax payment by paying the advance tax, self assessment tax, tax on distributed profits, tax on regular assessment or tax on the distributed income.

The taxpayer may pay this tax either offline through cash or cheque or demand draft, or the taxpayer may make this advance tax payment online via direct bank transfer. This form should be filed by the taxpayer while paying income tax regardless to the fact if the income tax filing is made physically online.

How to file Income Tax Challan 280?

The following procedure may be followed to file ITNS 280:

• Select Challan 280

Visit the tax information network of the Income Tax Department and select the option- Proceed, under Challan 280^[1].

• Provide Personal Information

For individuals paying tax-

• Select (0021) Income Tax (Other than Companies)
• Select the payment type from the following options:
  1. Advance Tax;
  2. Surtax;
  3. Tax on distributed profit;
  4. Tax on Distributed income;
  5. Self Assessment Tax;
  6. Tax on regular Assessment.
• Choose the mode of payment from the two modes available- Net banking or Debit card.
• Select relevant Assessment Year.
• Enter complete address.
• Enter captcha in the space provided and click Proceed.

Double-Check

Double-check the information showcased, and you will have to submit the request to the bank, and then you would be redirected to your bank’s payment page.

• Check Receipt

After the payment has been made, you will receive a tax receipt on the following screen, where the payment details will be displayed. You will see the BSR code and challan serial number on challan’s right side.

It may be noted here that you don’t forget to save a copy of the tax receipt as you will have to enter the BSR code and challan number to enter in your tax return.  BSR code is a 7 digit number, whereas challan serial number is a 5 digit number.

Offline method to pay Income Tax Challan 280

For those who are unable to pay taxes online, pay taxes by visiting respective bank branches physically. The offline procedure is as follows:

• Visit your bank branch and ask for challan 280. If you wanna save time, download challan 280 online and fill it before going to the bank branch. It will save your time.
• Go the counter and ask to deposit the challan along with the money. It is advisable to pay using cheque rather than cash.
• The official of the bank will provide you the receipt after entering the details of the payment and stamping it.

Amendments to challan after its submission

An assessee can request for changes in the challan, which the banks can make. The banks have a period of 7 days from the date of remittance to make such changes for information such as PAN, TAN etc. Similarly, banks get 3 months time to make changes in fields such as nature of payment, challan deposit date etc.

Verification of Challan tax payment

Verification of the challan can be done by the CIN based view or the TAN based view. The former provides details like CIN, BSR etc. To track the challan status, whereas the TAN view provides details of tax deduction and collection number etc. to view CIN.

Conclusion

Making advance tax payment online with the filing of ITNS 280 is an easy way for a taxpayer to clear his or her dues. Paying taxes online is more comfortable, convenient and secure method as compared to the offline method. Tax collection has been made more effective for both taxpayers and government with the introduction of online payment feature like Income Tax Challan 280.

Read our article: How does Income Tax Department trace your High Value Transactions?