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A freelancer's problem is not a salaried employee's problem, and neither is an NRI's. Each page below covers what is only true of that group — the dates that matter, the decisions worth taking properly, and what actually goes wrong.
Tax for salaried employees
If your income is a salary and your employer deducts TDS, filing is still compulsory once you cross the basic exemption limit — and it is the only way to get excess TDS back as a refund. The two things that decide your year are which regime you file under, which is arithmetic rather than preference, and whether your return agrees with the Annual Information Statement, which is where almost every notice on a salaried return comes from..
Your main income is a salary, with TDS already deducted by your employer
ReadTax for freelancers and independent consultants
As a freelancer nobody is running your payroll, which means advance tax in four instalments is your own obligation and section 234C charges interest on every instalment that falls short. The decision that moves the most money is presumptive taxation under section 44ADA — declaring 50% of receipts as income and skipping detailed books — which is a good deal at a high margin and costs more tax than proper accounts at a low one..
You invoice clients rather than draw a salary
ReadTax and compliance for startups
A startup's compliance load starts the day it incorporates, not the day it earns: the first auditor within thirty days, INC-20A within 180 days before business may lawfully commence, and annual filings whose penalty runs at ₹100 a day per form with no upper limit. DPIIT recognition is free and unlocks the angel tax exemption under section 56(2)(viib), which has to be in place before a round rather than argued about after it..
You have just incorporated, or are about to
ReadTax and GST for e-commerce sellers
Selling through a marketplace requires GST registration from the first sale — the ₹40 lakh threshold does not apply — and the platform reports your turnover to the department in GSTR-8 whether or not you file anything. The recurring work is reconciliation: your settlement report is a net payout after commission, shipping, returns and TCS, and both your GST returns and your income tax return have to be built on gross sales rather than on what landed in the bank..
You sell on Amazon, Flipkart, Meesho or a similar marketplace
ReadTax for NRIs with income in India
As an NRI you are taxed in India only on income that arises here — rent, capital gains, interest on an NRO account — but the mechanics are harsher than for a resident: TDS on a property sale by an NRI is deducted on the whole sale value rather than on the gain, at 20% plus surcharge, unless you obtain a lower-deduction certificate under section 197 first. ITR-1 is not available to you at all, whatever your income looks like..
You live outside India and have rental income, interest or capital gains here
ReadTax for doctors, architects and other professionals
A professional practice sits under section 44ADA, which lets you declare 50% of gross receipts as income up to ₹75 lakh and skip detailed books — attractive for a consultant with low overheads and expensive for a practice paying staff, rent and equipment finance. The other difference is that professional receipts arrive after TDS under section 194J and often from several payers at once, so reconciling 26AS is a real monthly task rather than a formality..
You are a doctor, architect, lawyer, engineer or other notified professional
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Why these pages exist
Tax advice is almost always organised by service — “ITR filing”, “GST registration”. Nobody thinks about their own problem in those words. A freelancer thinks about the TDS a client deducted and where it went. An NRI thinks about how much the buyer will withhold on a flat. A founder thinks about whether the round is about to attract angel tax.
So these start from the situation instead, and each one carries only what is true of that group — their dates, their decisions, and what actually goes wrong for them. From there they point at the right service, the right calculator and the right comparison.
If your situation is not on the list, just write to us. We will tell you what applies in your case — including, where it is true, that nothing much does.