Miss Advance Tax? 5 Online Modes Save You 1%/Month

If you miss income tax deadlines, the government charges 1% interest per month. The e-Pay Tax facility on the Income Tax portal lets you pay instantly in 5 ways — no tax office visit, no queue, no excuse for missing a deadline.

Here's what happened: The Income Tax Department's e-Pay Tax facility supports 5 payment modes: net banking, debit card, RTGS/NEFT, payment gateway (UPI/credit card), and over-the-counter at select banks.. Taxpayers can pay direct taxes — advance tax, self-assessment tax, TDS, and more — both before logging in and after, directly from the IT portal at incometax.gov.in.. After payment, a Challan Receipt (Form 280) is instantly generated and auto-updated in your Form 26AS, removing the need to manually submit proof to anyone..

What you should do: Go to incometax.gov.in → 'e-Pay Tax' → enter your PAN and mobile OTP — you don't even need to log in to start a payment.. Choose the payment mode that suits you: UPI or credit card via payment gateway if you want to earn reward points; net banking for fastest credit to your account.. Download your Challan 280 receipt immediately after payment and save it — you'll need it if your Form 26AS takes a few days to update before filing your ITR..

Paying advance tax via credit card through the payment gateway earns you reward points on a large amount — just ensure your card limit can handle it and repay the bill immediately to avoid card interest wiping out any benefit.

For readers weighing their credit and loan options, our personal loan guide and CIBIL score resources put this update in context.