Tax planning has a hard deadline. On 1 April, the financial year's facts are frozen, and everything that follows (filing, computation, assessment) works with what already happened. The weeks before 31 March are the last window in which the numbers can still be legitimately shaped. Here is what to review, for individuals and for businesses.
For individuals
- Confirm which tax regime you are better off in this year, the answer changes as deductions and income mix change, and it should be computed, not assumed
- If the chosen regime allows deductions, complete the investments and payments that earn them before 31 March: the eligible investment options, health insurance premiums, and pension contributions where they fit your plan
- Review capital gains booked during the year. Losses available in the portfolio can be harvested before year-end to set off gains (subject to the set-off rules) and reinvestment-based exemptions need the transaction trail in place
- Pay the final advance tax instalment correctly; interest on shortfalls is calculated mechanically and is entirely avoidable
- If you sold property this year, confirm the exemption strategy and the deposits or reinvestments it requires, several of these have deadlines linked to the filing date, but the planning must exist before year-end
- Collect what filing season will need: proofs, statements, and records of any large or unusual transaction, while they are easy to find
For businesses
- Estimate the full-year profit honestly and recompute the final advance tax instalment against it
- Review expense provisioning: expenses incurred but unbilled should be provided for, with TDS where applicable, provisions made properly before year-end are deductions this year, not next
- Check payments to micro and small enterprises: amounts outstanding beyond the prescribed period attract specific tax consequences, and the year-end position is what gets tested
- Complete asset purchases that were planned anyway, depreciation generally depends on the asset being put to use before year-end, with the rate affected by how long it was used
- Reconcile GST, TDS and books before closing; differences found now are corrections, the same differences found in audit are observations
- Review director and related-party balances and document what they are, while the parties still remember
- Clear statutory dues whose deduction depends on actual payment, several expenses are deductible only when paid by the relevant deadline
What year-end planning is not
A caution from practice: transactions whose only substance is a tax outcome (circular payments, backdated documents, invoices from entities that provide nothing) are not planning. They fail when examined, and they are examined more systematically every year. Every item above works because it is a real decision taken on time: a real investment, a real provision, a real payment.
The discipline that beats the deadline
The best 31 March outcomes belong to people who started in April. A short tax review each quarter (income tracking against advance tax, deductions on schedule, transactions flagged before they happen) converts year-end panic into a checklist. If this year's review is starting late, prioritise the items above in order of what is still actionable: regime choice and computations first, payments and investments next, documentation last.