Don’t Delay Filing Your Income Tax Returns

The government gives its taxpaying citizens a window of at least 4 months to consolidate the income details and file the income tax returns every assessment year from 1 April to 31 July for the previous year which ended on 31 March. Since filing your ITR, takes only a few minutes reasonable. Besides paying taxes on time, we must also file the returns by the due date or face consequences. 

The Income Tax Department makes it a must for everyone to file an income tax return if your gross total income is more than Rs 250,000 in a financial year (before allowing the deductions under the section 80C to 80U). This limit is extended to Rs 300,000 for elderlies who are past the 60 years old mark but the age is lower than the 80 years old) and the amount increases 500,000 for super-senior citizens ( that is more than 80 years old). However, you can file your income tax returns even if your income is less than the maximum exemption limit. Get help from the best CA firms. 

You can file ITR1 through TDS return service with the help of accountants of Chennai, where you need to fill up the income from salary and other sources. Show your salary income under the category of “income from salary” and the income you earn from part-time from “income from other sources. “

An online platform helps us file TDS returns with effortless ease. People are now going for e-TDS as it is a simple procedure. There are many e-TDS filing software that you can utilize. It makes the process of filing TDS returns simple and something that you can rely upon. You can go for Host Books TDS is listed on NSDL as it is an e-TDS service provider. The income tax department has withdrawn, the filing of manual returns.

Ministry of corporate affairs has shaken things up and transform the entire filing process online. The
just introduced GST can also be conducted online, starting from the registration process to the returns filing process.

Are you looking for reasons to e-file your income tax returns? Check out the below reasons,

1 ) Carry forward of loss

When the firm or an individual incurs business losses such as speculative and non-speculative or capital losses (both short-term and long-term) it cannot be shown as an exemption to extend and carry forward last year’s losses. However, a person only benefits if he/she files one’s income tax return.

2) Income tax refund

Tax return filing is not merely fulfilling one’s duty towards the nation but to claim an income tax refund. 

3) Avoiding penalty

Under the section 234F of the Income-Tax Act, if a person fails to file his returns by July 31 then he is supposed to cough up a fee Rs 5000 if the return is furnished before 31st December. The fee would shoot up to Rs 10,000 if it is filed after 31st December. However, it must be noted if the total income of a person does not cross the Rs 5 lakh marker then the money should not cross Rs 1000.

4) Legal sanction to your income

The assessees' income must be audited according to the IT Act, the date of filing the return would be 30th September.  If you regularly file your returns you will give a stamp of legal sanction to your income even if you are not supposed to pay the taxes for the year.

5) Your loan would be easily processed

You need to submit your income tax returns to process different types of loans such as home loans, educational loans and so on. You need to file your returns to enable the process of any visa. Even some of the credit card companies require your proof of tax returns before providing a card.

6) Registration of immovable property

A few states demand that your income-tax return of the last three years must be registered as per the immovable property. Also, a legal sanction pertaining to taxable or otherwise helps you to prepare for the property owned.

Filing income tax return ensures you perform duties as a senior citizen and also ensures smooth governance. Also, it protects the hassles of being served a show-cause notice from the I-T department.

What is the due date for Income Tax Filing Returns? Why Should you File it?

The Income Tax Department makes it mandatory for everyone to file income tax return if your gross total income is more than Rs 250,000 in a financial year (before allowing deductions under section 80C to 80U). This limit is extended to Rs 300,000 for senior citizens who are more than 60 years old, but is less than 80 years old) and the amount increases to 500,000 for super-senior citizens ( that is more than 80 years old). However, you can still file your income tax returns even if your income is less than the maximum exemption limit. Get help from the best CA firms. 

You can file ITR1 via TDS return service with the help of the best accountants of Chennai, where you need to provide details of income from salary and other sources. Show your salary income under the paradigm of” income from salary” and the income you earn from part time from “income from other sources. “

An online platform helps us file TDS returns with ease. People are now going for e-TDS as it really convenient and simple. There are many e-TDS filing software that you can use. It makes the process of filing TDS returns simple and something that you can depend upon. You can go for Host Books TDS is listed on NSDL as an e-TDS service provider. The income tax department has long withdrawn, the filing of manual returns.

Ministry of corporate affairs has changed things up and transformed the entire filing process online.
Recently introduced GST can also be conducted online, starting from the registration process to the returns filing process.

Still looking for reasons to e-file your income tax returns? Check out the below reasons,

1 ) Carry forward of loss

When the individual or a firm incurs business losses such as speculative and non-speculative or capital losses (both short-term and long-term) it cannot be shown as an exemption to extend and carry forward last year’s losses. However, a person can benefit only if he/she files one’s income tax return.

2) Income tax refund

Tax return filing is not merely fulfilling one’s duty towards the nation but to claim an income tax refund. 

3) Avoiding penalty

Under the section 234F of the Income-Tax Act, if a person is unable to file his returns by July 31 then he is supposed to pay a fee of Rs 5000 if the return is furnished before 31st December. The fee would increase to Rs 10,000 if it is filed after 31st December. However, if the total income of the person does not cross the Rs 5 lakh marker then the money should not cross Rs 1000.

4) Legal sanction to your income

The income of the assessees must be audited according to the IT Act, the date of filing the return would be 30th September.  If you regularly file your returns you will give a stamp of legal sanction to your income even if you are not supposed to pay the taxes for the year.

5) Your loan would be easily processed

You need to submit your income tax returns to process different types of loans such as home loans, educational loans and so on. You need to file your returns to processes any visa. Even credit card companies require your proof of tax returns before providing a card.

6) Registration of immovable property

A few states demand your income-tax return of the last three years for registering immovable property. Also, a legal sanction to income taxable or otherwise helps you to prepare for the property owned.

Filing income tax return helps you perform responsibilities as a citizen and also ensures smooth governance. Also, it shields you from the hassles of being served a show-cause notice from the I-T department. Tax consultantsin Chennai or consultants in other cities of the country help you return files on time.

The Best Auditing Firm in Chennai that Works with a Tech Startup

If you want a successful business, you simply must make accounting a part of your scheme of things. For this you can seek the help of chartered accountant firms in Chennai,  Business owners not only design the website but also choose the perfect business name that have a basic understanding of the numbers, otherwise, they won’t be able to put their best foot forward. 

If the entrepreneurs do not pay heed to the financials of their business now, they would repent later, that is they would have to pay for it, in some way or the other, later. 

How Can Start-ups Enhance their Financial Prospects?

The Small Business Administration or the (SBA) makes a list where they give 11 reasons why small businesses falter and fail. Amongst the top reasons, at least four of them concentrates on the financial aspect of a small business. And the number 1 reason is trying to do everything on your own. 

Hire an Accounting Professional

If you do not have a degree in accounting to boast of you need the help of a professional to set up to update your accounting system. To get to the bottom of your financial nitty-gritty, you have to decide whether you should hire an accountant or a bookkeeper.

What a Bookkeeper can do

Most startup requires the services of a bookkeeper. A bookkeeper's accounting service in Chennai make the running of business a simple uncomplicated affair. A bookkeeper can look after several aspects your business such as for maintaining a record keeping system, produce your financial statements and handle your financial transactions.

How Can an Accountant Help a Startup?

If you are dabbling in a complex business structure or dealing with limited liability Company, you must hire an accountant, especially when you want to grow your business. An accountant can also help you when you need to hire more employees on a payroll.

Many entrepreneurs start small with a part-time business or also work at home to manage the escalating expenses. If this is the case then you may not be able to hire a full-time accountant. However. You can seek help from an accountant for your end-of-the-year tax preparations. 

Cash or Accrual Accounting Methods

The two accepted accounting methods are cash accounting and accrual accounting. Some small business organizations choose one amongst the two while other small startups use the accrual method. Employ the services of an accountant to find out which method you can use, suiting your purpose.

VRamaratnam & Company is one of the top Indian Chartered Accountants firm in Chennai, powered by experienced and skilled Chartered Accountants and other professionals. They are regarded as one 

 of the best auditing firm in Chennai. 

The firm has a goal to achieve that is, to provide a large range of financial and consulting services to its clients. Their wide spectrum of services includes direct and indirect taxation, Auditing and Assurance Services, and they largely focus on Non-Resident Indians. Their chief interest veers around startups business valuation, business entity registration in India, along with Accounting and Payroll Outsourcing Services.

Find out about the Financial Statement Audit

A financial statement audit is all about examining the entity's financial statements and helps to accompany the disclosures all with the help of the services of the independent auditor. It results with a report submitted by the auditor, and it offers a fair presentation of the financial statements and other related disclosures. The auditor's report made by the chartered accountants in Chennai and other cities of the country should come with the financial statements when they are given to the intended recipients.

The chief objective of a financial statement audit is that it offers financial credibility to the reported financial position and also according to the performance of a business. The Securities and Exchange Commission says that all the entities that are under public domain must file annual reports with the ones that are audited. Similarly, lenders typically require an audit of the financial statements of any entity, which they have to lend. Suppliers also require audited financial statements before they extend trade credit (though that happens only when the amount of requested credit is a substantial amount. 

Know all about the primary stages of audit here, 

1. Planning and risk assessment. Besides understanding the business and the environment where it operates, they use this information to assess whether the risks involved and how it will affect the financial statements.

2. Internal controls testing. This helps the assessment of the effectiveness of an entity's suite of controls, which helps focus on the areas as per proper authorization, the safeguarding of assets, and also segregating of duties. This involves the array of tests, which is conducted on a sampling of transactions helping it determine the degree of control effectiveness. A higher degree of effectiveness helps the auditors to control some of the audit procedures. If the controls are not very ineffective (there may be a high risk of material misstatement), then the auditors must find out about other procedures to find out more about the financial statements. There are a number of risk assessment questionnaires available that helps with the internal controls testing.

3. Substantive procedures. This involves a broad number of procedures, a glimpse of which are the following,

• Analysis.
• Cash.
• Marketable securities
• Accounts receivable
• Inventory.
• Fixed assets.
• Accounts payable.
• Accrued expenses.
• Debt.
• Revenue.
• Expenses.

An audit made by the auditorsin Chennai and the other places, definitely one of the most expensive examinations of financial statements. The least expensive is said to be a compilation and the next one is a review. Due to its cost, many companies try to downgrade to a review or compilation, though this is only a compilation which you can follow if it is acceptable to one of the report recipients. Publicly held entities are required to get their quarterly financial statements reviewed apart from the annual audit.

How is GST Beneficial for the Country? How Would it Help to Improve the Country's Economy?

India has joined the bandwagon of indirect tax reforms. The Empowered Committee of the State has announced in the first discussion paper on 10.11.2009, that there will be a plan to levy a “Dual GST Scheme” in India, read both the Center and the States will have the power to levy the GST taxes.

The scheme though originally was supposed to be realized from 1st April 2016, several hurdles pushed the date further as the ruling party did not have the majority in the Rajya Sabha back then. Most of the states too expressed their grievances against the tax for one reason or the other. 

Constitutional alteration - While the Center has the power to impose the GST tax services till the production stage, the States have the onus to tax sale of goods. While each of powers cannot be swapped with one another as the States cannot levy a tax on supply of services while the Centre cannot impose a tax on the sale of goods. The Constitution does not put the power baton on any one of them (State or Center) exclusively, to levy a GST tax. Furthermore, the Constitution falls short of empowering the States to levy import taxes. Therefore, the Constitutional Amendments empower the Centre to levy taxes on the sale of goods and States and also to impose both service tax and import tax.

What is Goods and Services taxes?  Goods and Service Tax or (GST) is a comprehensive tax levied on the manufacture, sale, and the consumption of goods and services. The Center and the State governments do away with all the indirect taxes.

GST is levied on goods and services under which it is mandatory for each person to pay tax, GST filing 2018 on his output and is imperative to pay the (ITC) or input tax credit on the tax paid on its inputs and outputs. 

 Aims and objectives of GST: The Goods & Service Tax ( GST Annual Returns Due by Dec 31) aims to do away with the double taxation or the cascading effect of taxes on both the production and distribution cost of goods and services. Eradicating the cascading effects of the tax on tax which burdens the final consumers will greatly improve the competitiveness of the ultimate goods and services in the market and it is one of the benefits for GST. This competitiveness has a number of positive repercussions and one of them is certainly a positive impact on the GDP growth of the country.

It goes without saying that the Introduction of a GST substituting the existing multiple tax structures of Centre and State taxes is certainly welcomed with open arms by the consumers. GST will most importantly eliminate the cascading effect on the sale of goods and services. This will impact the cost of goods. The cost of goods shall also decrease chiefly because the tax on tax effect will be done away with, forever. 

GST is transparent and embodies current technology. As most of the activities related tothe GST updates is technology-driven. Activities such as registration, application for refund, filing returns, and response to notice are all completed on the GST Portal. This accelerates the entire process. The GST regime is likely to bring a whole new era in the country and the common people will certainly benefit from it in the long run.