As we enter the last month of the existing financial year 2021-22. Ideally, your tax planning should start from the first month of the financial year in April. You must do whatever is needed to save on tax for the year ending in March. So, March becomes very important for tax planning. Besides these, from the last day of filing belated income tax returns to linking your PAN-Aadhaar, the month of March has some other crucial deadlines for your money matters as well. Here are some key deadlines that are likely to affect your finances this month.

Here we list 5 important money tasks that one needs to complete this month:

1] Belated or revised ITR: The last date for filing belated ITR for AY2021-22 is 31st March 2022. So, those earning individuals who missed to file their ITR by the given due date are advised to file their income tax return by the given last date for ITR filing.

Similarly, the deadline for filing belated or revised ITR for FY2020-21 is 31st March 2021. If an earning individual has e-filed its late ITR, he or she can still edit it on or before 31st March 2022. So, if a taxpayer notices any mistake in one’s e-filed ITR, it can still correct that mistake online on or before 31st March 2022.

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2] Aadhaar-PAN link: The deadline to link one’s PAN with Aadhaar is 31st March 2022. Those whose PAN and Aadhaar are not linked, are advised to do this by the given deadline. If a PAN cardholder fails to meet this deadline, then its PAN card will become invalid leading to various monetary losses and penalties. Under section 272B, carrying an invalid PAN card may lead to ₹10,000 penalty. Apart from this, one’s TDS on bank deposit interest will get doubled.

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3] Bank account KYC update: Earlier, the deadline for bank account KYC was 31st December 2021. But, due to the rising threat of Omicron cases in India, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) extended the deadline for bank account KYC update from 31st December 2021 to 31st March 2022. Failing to meet the deadline may lead to freezing your bank account.
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4] Advance tax installment: As per Section 208 of the income tax act, every taxpayer whose estimated tax liability is ₹10,000 or more, can pay advance tax, which is paid in four installments. The deadline for the first installment falls on 15 June, second on 15th September, third on 15th December, and fourth on 15th March in every fiscal. So, those taxpayers who filed advance tax installments in previous quarters, are advised to note that the deadline for filing the last installment of advance tax is 15th March 2022.

5] Tax saving investments: There is just one month left for an earning individual to complete its tax-saving exercise. So, one needs to make sure that it has been deposited in tax saving funds like Public Provident Fund (PPF), ELSS mutual funds, National Pension System or NPS, etc. However, it is important to note that if an earning individual is unable to save then some of its spendings under heads like tuition fee of child, principal repayment on the home loan, etc. provide a tax benefit to an income taxpayer.