H&R Block values its client relationships above all else and this resonates in the way they make themselves available to their clients throughout the year. A proactive and holistic tax advice is what makes them stand out from the rest.
December is a month when all those working as employees across the vast corporate landscape have to finish with the investments for the year to make sure they get maximum tax deductions from their salary. In the endeavour to maintain year round access to clients, H&R Block brings you a list of things to remember when you are about to submit proofs for the tax declarations that you made to your companies.
- Tax declarations submitted in April
You must have already submitted your tax declarations in the month of April (for most companies) wherein you probably tried to maximize your deduction and exemption limits to receive the lowest possible tax cut in your salary. However you must think realistically and declare investments that you will be actually able to manage. Overestimating this amount can put you in a fix at the year-end since you might not end up saving that much amount of money that you declared and hence may end up losing a major chunk of your salary to taxes in the last few months. E.g. if you have declared that you will be making tax savings investments of Rs1,50,000 by December for the year then you must make sure that you save this amount and invest in parts until the end of the year else you lose the tax deductions.
- December and January – the time to finish all investments
Once you have made all the investment declarations in April you must make some concrete plans to finish all these investments by the deadline of December or January when the declarations have to be finalised. Make sure you document all the investment proofs in hard as well as soft copies since these will enable you to claim the tax deductions. Some investments can be planned and made well before the December deadline. Examples are investment in PPF account, buying some tax saving ELSS mutual funds, insurance policies etc. since these can be planned and purchased within these time limits. For other annual payments like LIC and housing loan that are required to be paid on specific dates that might be beyond December and January, companies may accept proofs from last year. This is because the amounts of instalments are the same each year.
- Putting money in some new investment schemes
Some investment schemes are launched after the April deadline to declare investments. If these investments are tax saving as well as pay a good amount of earnings on your money then you may wish to invest in these schemes. E.g. some tax savings mutual funds that might be launched in the month of July and you want to invest in them. In such a case if these were not a part of the declarations made earlier you need to make the accounts or HR department aware of these and declare them along with the other investments to claim the tax deductions.
- Managing tax declarations between a job switch
If you have changed jobs during the year and made tax declarations in both the companies then make sure that you inform the declarations made in the previous company to the new company. This will help the HR department calculate accurate TDS deductions for you and avoid any excessive TDS deductions or short deductions that might lead to wrong amount of taxes being paid into the government account. In many cases if the amount of tax paid is less than what is due then you might be required to pay a penalty or fine at the time of
tax filing. The best way to avoid this way is to make sure that you provide all the proper tax declarations to the new company and make sure to check the TDS amount from your salary. In case of any doubt you should immediately get in touch with the concerned department in order to get it rectified.
Educating people about taxes and making them aware about how some events shape their tax situation, goes a long way in making the right investment decisions. In fact, H&R Block has a client communication program centered around this thought. Hetal Shroff who manages client experience for H&R Block says, “We at H&R Block, look at people’s life through taxes and see how we can help and that’s our purpose. Filing taxes is an annual requirement but we are here to build a lifelong relationship with our clients. A step in this direction is quarterly review of all our clients’ tax situations by connecting with them and understanding if there are any changes happening in their lives which could impact their tax situation. This helps us in tailoring the advice that we give them to help save taxes.”
About H&R Block H&R Block is the world’s largest income tax filing company with over 25 Million returns filed worldwide annually. In India since 2012, it offers
income tax return filing services for salaried individuals via three distinct methods – Free Online self e-filing,
Assisted tax e-filing and In-person tax e-filing.
H&R Block provides a highly intuitive online tool through their Free online self e-filing, which automatically extracts data from your Form 16, to help you file your taxes online yourself in 3 easy steps, free of charge. For people needing help with tax filing, you can utilize the Assisted Tax Filing Services. Here, you have a dedicated tax expert assigned to you, to help you understand your tax modalities and prepare your returns for you. If you prefer a personal interaction, you can walk into any of their 6 offices located across India and enjoy personalized services.
They provide a blend of tax filing methods suited to the needs of clients as well as dedicated year round support. H&R Block makes the tax filing process simple, convenient and hassle free. This is what makes H&R Block India’s best tax filing service provider.
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