Advance tax dates for tax year 2026-27

From the Export Desk, chapter 10 · Look inside the Export Desk

Who has to pay advance tax?

Anyone whose advance tax for the year, worked out under the Act, is ₹10,000 or more (section 404). The working takes off the tax that will be deducted or collected at source during the year, such as TDS on a salary (section 405). One group is left out: a resident individual aged 60 or more who has no income from a business or profession (section 403(3), source 1).

The Income Tax Department’s FAQs say advance tax for tax year 2026-27 is paid under the new Act (source 2).

What are the dates?

Advance tax instalments for tax year 2026-27 (section 408(1)): the share of the year’s advance tax paid by each date, in total

By	Paid in total, at least
15 June 2026	15%
15 September 2026	45%
15 December 2026	75%
15 March 2027	100%

The shares add up: each date’s figure is the total paid by then, not that instalment alone. An invented example, as arithmetic only: if your CA estimates the year’s advance tax at ₹60,000, you pay ₹9,000 by 15 June, ₹18,000 more by 15 September (₹27,000 in all), ₹18,000 more by 15 December (₹45,000) and the last ₹15,000 by 15 March.

The same four dates come round every financial year: 15 June 2027 is the first for tax year 2027-28.

What if you use section 58?

If you declare profits under section 58(2), row 1 (business) or row 3 (profession), you pay the whole year’s advance tax by 15 March, in one go (section 408(2), source 1). For tax year 2026-27 that is 15 March 2027. The section 58 guide explains the rows.

What if you haven’t paid anything yet this year?

Two things in the Act help (source 1):

• You may raise or lower what you pay in the instalments still to come, to match your latest estimate (section 406(2)).
• Anything paid by 31 March counts as advance tax for the financial year that ends that day (section 408(3)).

Paying late or short still costs interest, below.

What does paying late or short cost?

• Section 424. If you pay no advance tax, or less than 90% of the tax assessed, simple interest runs at 1% a month, or part of a month, from 1 April after the tax year, on the shortfall (source 1).
• Section 425. If an instalment falls short of what was due by its date, interest is charged on that shortfall too, at the rates in its table.

Your CA works out the figures; the dates are what to keep.

What should you do now?

1. Ask your CA for an estimate of this year’s tax, with the TDS you expect.
2. Put 15 December 2026 and 15 March 2027 in your calendar, with a reminder a week before each.
3. Keep each challan and its date with your records, for the return.
4. Add 15 June 2027 for the next tax year.

From the kit. The Export Desk’s year calendar carries every advance tax date to March 2028 beside the GST and FEMA dates, and chapter 10 sets out the rules. This is the calendar.

Salaried, with side income? Beside the Job’s workbook has an Advance tax tab.

Free: the export invoice check, and the ten lines on one A4 page.

Questions to ask your CA

1. Is my advance tax for this year ₹10,000 or more, after TDS?
2. Do I use section 58, and so pay once, by 15 March?
3. I missed June and September. What should I pay by 15 December?
4. How do I pay, and what do I keep as proof?

Sources

1. Ministry of Law and Justice. The Income-tax Act, 2025 (No. 30 of 2025), the Gazette of India, 21 August 2025. Sections 403 to 408, 424 and 425. Primary source. Read on 1 November 2026.
2. Income Tax Department. Objective and scope of the New Act, the e-filing portal’s FAQs: advance tax for tax year 2026-27 under the new Act. Primary source. Read on 1 November 2026.

What changed in this guide

• 1 November 2026. Sources read again before publishing.
• 20 October 2026. Written, and checked against the sources above.