This article is the second in a series of taxes on women in India

Read: Introduction to Taxes for Working Women in India: Part 1, Background of Taxes

When it comes to the matter of filing taxes, women and men both tend to find it difficult to compute actual taxes due at the end of the year. This is why it is definitely advisable to entrust your tax chores to a reputed and reliable CA (Chartered Accountant).

A Few Tips on Choosing the Right CA:

  • Find a thorough professional who you can entrust with this task for every tax filing
  • It helps to choose a CA who is known to a good friend or family member
  • If you run a company, it is best to keep the same CA for your company filings and your own individual tax filings.

However, even if you find the right CA who does all the hard work for you, you as an individual in your own right should know the basics of taxes. This will help ensure that you are not taken for a ride. Furthermore, a CA who knows that their client is well versed with the topic of taxes will also be happy to work with you.

A Few More Basic Tips on Taxes:

  • The Indian accounting year follow the April to March rule. This means that every ‘Indian financial year’ runs from 1st- April of the present year to 31st March of the following year.
  • A new financial years starts on 1st April of every year.
  • There is a difference between Financial Year and Assessment Year.
  • Financial Year is the present year you are presently in. For instance this July 15th 2012 is part of the ‘FY’ or Financial Year of 1st April 2012 to 31st March 2013.
  • Assessment year or AY is (usually) the next year in which people’s and company’s taxes are assessed. For instance, all tax filings, between 1st April 2012 and 31st March 2013, will be assessed in the Assessment year, 1st April 2013 to 31st March 2014.

Once these few points are clearly saved in your mind, it helps to start knowing the absolute basics on tax slabs. Let’s start with the simplest one:

In the present Assessment year (which is assessing taxes filed between April 2011 and March 2012), the tax free limit for women was at a yearly income of Rs. 190,000.00 (One lakh ninety thousand).

What does that mean?

 It means that every woman who earned up to Rs. 190,000.00 between 1st April 2011 and 31st March 2012 does not need to pay any tax.