Income Tax – The Annual Festival Nobody Celebrates
🎉 “Every March, Indians suddenly remember PPF exists.”
🏃♂️ “Tax saving investments done on 30th March = panic shopping.”
— also known as the Great Indian Receipt Hunt. Let’s decode this festival of fine print & last‑minute sirens.
If Diwali is the festival of lights, and Holi is the festival of colours, then Income Tax season is the festival of “where did I put that Form 16?” and “let’s pretend we planned this in April.” But fear not, anxious taxpayer — we’re about to make this annual ritual slightly less dreadful (and maybe even a little funny).
Choosing between the old and new tax regime is like choosing between a fixed marriage (with 80C deductions) and a live‑in relationship (lower rates, no strings). Both have fan clubs. Both have haters. Let’s break it down.
Old Regime
- Multiple exemptions (HRA, LTA, 80C, 80D…)
- You need to invest in PPF, ELSS, insurance
- Suitable if you already have loans / investments
- Tax rebate u/s 87A up to ₹12,500
➕ Great if you love paperwork and long-term wealth building.
New Regime
- Lower tax rates, but goodbye to 80C, 80D, HRA
- No need to prove investments — simple
- Default regime from FY 2023‑24
- Standard deduction of ₹50,000 reintroduced
➕ Ideal if you hate investing or have minimal deductions.
If you choose the old regime, deductions are your best friends — but only if you remember them before the last week of March.
💰 ₹1.5 lakh
PPF, ELSS, EPF, life insurance, children’s tuition fee, Sukanya Samriddhi, etc. Basically, anything that starts with a vowel.
🩺 up to ₹25k/50k
Health insurance premiums. Also covers preventive health checkups — because a healthy taxpayer is a paying taxpayer.
🏡 up to ₹2 lakh
Interest on home loan. If you have a home loan, you’re already stressed — at least tax gives a little hug.
🎓 interest on edu loan
No upper limit on interest deduction. Study well, save tax — finally a reason to tell mom “my degree is an investment”.
➕ also 80G (donations), 80TTA (savings interest), 80CCD(1B) (additional NPS), etc. — like an all‑you‑can‑save buffet.
- “I’ll invest in April… okay May… definitely by June… AHHH MARCH 30!” — The annual PPF panic deposit. Banks love you on 31st March.
- Forgetting to include that one interest income from your savings account. The bank sends statement, we send it to trash. The income tax department doesn’t.
- Mixing up 80C and 80D and buying insurance for your pet. (Sorry, Fido doesn’t qualify … yet.)
- Filing ITR but not verifying within 30 days. It’s like cooking a great meal and forgetting to eat it.
- Choosing the new regime just because it’s “new”, without calculating. FOMO is real, but so is tax liability.
“Tax saving investments done on 30th March = panic shopping.” You’re not alone — crores of Indians suddenly discover the existence of ELSS and tax‑saver FDs while sweating in the bank queue. That’s our shared cultural heritage.
- 1 Compare old & new regimes every year – don’t be loyal to a tax regime.
- 2 If you opt old, exhaust 80C (₹1.5L) and 80D (health).
- 3 Don’t ignore small incomes (savings account interest, freelance gigs) – they’re trackable.
- 4 Start investing in December, not March. Your heart will thank you.
- 5 File on time – interest u/s 234F is not your friend.
Remember: income tax is just the government’s way of reminding us that we did earn something this year. So gather those statements, hug your CA, and maybe — just maybe — start your tax planning before the mercury hits panic mode.
— “Every March, Indians suddenly remember PPF exists.” Let’s change that. 🏦