Tax Consultation in India: ITR Filing, Capital Gains Advisory and GST — What a Complete Tax Relationship Actually Covers
Last updated: 12 October 2026
Quick answer: Tax consultation in India covers four connected areas: ITR filing, regime and deduction planning, capital gains planning across shares, funds, PMS and property, and GST for business owners. For tax year 2026-27 it also means applying the Income-tax Act, 2025, which renumbered familiar sections, and meeting the 31 July ITR deadline and four advance-tax dates.
Last updated: 12 October 2026 Quick answer: Tax consultation in India covers four connected areas: ITR filing, regime and deduction planning, capital gains planning across shares, funds, PMS and property, and GST for business owners. For tax year 2026-27 it also means applying the Income-tax Act, 2025, which renumbered familiar sections, and meeting the 31 July ITR deadline and four advance-tax dates. Key takeaways Four areas: ITR filing, tax planning, capital gains planning and GST compliance work best as one year-round process. Use the ₹1.25 lakh exemption: long-term gains on listed equity and equity funds up to ₹1.25 lakh a year are tax-free, and unused headroom lapses. Advance tax: due in four instalments, 15 June, 15 September, 15 December and 15 March, once tax after TDS reaches ₹10,000. New numbering: from 1 April 2026, old Sections 54, 54EC and 54F are Sections 82, 85 and 86, and 80C is Section 123. Deadlines: ITR-1 and ITR-2 are due on 31 July; non-audit business and professional cases on 31 August. Most people's entire relationship with tax planning happens in a two-week window before July 31st. That's understandable — it's when the deadline actually bites — but it's also exactly backwards. Nearly every decision that determines how much tax you actually owe gets made months earlier: when you sell a mutual fund, when a PMS manager books a gain on your behalf, when you decide how to structure a bonus, when you choose which property to sell first. By the time you're sitting down to file in July, most of the year's tax outcome is already locked in. That gap — between "tax filing" as a once-a-year compliance event and "tax consultation" as a year-round planning relationship — is what this article is actually about. Here's what a proper tax consultation service covers, how the pieces connect to your investments specifically, and who genuinely needs more than a once-a-year CA visit. Filing Is Compliance. Consultation Is a Decision Layer. A tax consultation relationship, done properly, covers four connected areas: Area What it actually involves ITR filing & compliance Accurate return filing for individuals, HUFs and partnerships — timed and documented well enough to avoid triggering an automated notice Tax planning Structuring deductions and exemptions (Section 80C, 80D, 80CCD/NPS, HRA) and choosing between the old and new regime before the financial year closes, not after Capital gains planning Timing and sequencing gains across equity, mutual funds, PMS, property and gold so the tax outcome is a deliberate choice, not an accident of when a manager happened to sell GST services Registration, monthly/quarterly return filing and reconciliation, for clients who also run a business The first two are what most people picture when they hear "tax consultant." The third is where a genuinely good tax relationship — especially one connected to the people who handle your investments — adds the most value, because it's the one area where investment decisions and tax decisions are literally the same decision, just viewed from two different angles. Old Regime vs. New Regime: A Decision, Not a Default The new tax regime is now the default for FY 2026-27, but "default" doesn't mean "automatically better for you." Whether the old regime's deductions (80C, 80D, HRA, home loan interest) outweigh the new regime's lower slabs and higher basic exemption depends entirely on your specific deduction profile — and that's a calculation worth actually running every year, not assuming stays constant as your income and expenses change. We've laid out the full FY 2026-27 slab structure and a detailed regime comparison in our complete tax planning guide (/insights/tax-planning-guide-india) — this article focuses on the parts of a tax relationship that guide doesn't cover: the ongoing, investment-linked decisions. Capital Gains Planning: Where the Real Value Sits This is the part of tax consultation most closely tied to your portfolio, and the part a standalone CA — one who only sees your investments once a year, at filing time — is structurally least able to help with, because the decisions have already been made by then. Harvesting the annual LTCG exemption. The first ₹1.25 lakh of long-term capital gains on listed equity and equity mutual funds is exempt from tax every financial year. Investors who never realise any gains in a low-gain year simply lose that exemption — it doesn't carry forward. A coordinated tax review checks, before March 31st, whether there are unrealised long-term gains worth booking (and, if desired, immediately reinvesting) purely to use up that year's exemption. Sequencing gains across asset classes in the same year. If you're planning to book a large capital gain from selling property, gold, or a PMS position, the timing of any other planned equity or mutual fund redemptions in that same financial year changes your total tax outcome — sometimes significantly, depending on which slab or surcharge threshold the combined income crosses. Reinvestment exemptions. Sections 54, 54EC and 54F (Sections 82, 85 and 86 under the Income-tax Act, 2025) offer specific, conditional routes to defer or avoid capital gains tax on property sales — investing the gain in a new residential property, in specified 54EC bonds (REC, PFC, IRFC, NHAI, subject to a ₹50 lakh annual cap and a 5-year lock-in), or in specified assets. Each has strict timelines and conditions that are easy to miss without someone actively tracking the clock from the moment you sell. Choosing which lot to sell. Where you've built a position over multiple years (SIPs, staggered PMS deployment), which specific units or shares you sell first can change whether a given sale is long-term or short-term, and by how much — a mechanical detail with a real tax consequence. None of this shows up if tax and investing are handled by two people who never talk to each other. Advance Tax and Staying Off the Notice Radar Anyone whose total tax liability for the year exceeds ₹10,000 — which includes most people with meaningful capital gains, PMS income, or freelance/business income — is required to pay advance tax in quarterly instalments (mid-June, mid-September, mid-December, mid-March), not just settle up at filing time. Missing these instalments triggers interest under Sections 234B and 234C (1961 Act numbering), a completely avoidable cost. Separately, the Income Tax Department's AIS (Annual Information Statement) and TIS (Taxpayer Information Summary) now capture an extraordinary amount of transaction-level data automatically — mutual fund transactions, PMS capital gains statements, high-value deposits, property registrations. A mismatch between what you file and what AIS shows is one of the most common triggers for an automated notice, and it's almost always avoidable with a quick reconciliation before filing rather than a scramble to respond after a notice arrives. GST, for Business-Owner Clients Clients who also run a business alongside their personal investment portfolio need a parallel, separate compliance track: GST registration where turnover thresholds require it, monthly or quarterly GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B filings, and reconciliation between what's filed and what counterparties report — errors here create both cash-flow friction (blocked input tax credit) and compliance risk independent of anything happening in your personal tax return. What Changed in 2026: The Income-tax Act, 2025 The Income-tax Act, 2025 replaced the 1961 Act from 1 April 2026. Rates and most limits carried over, but the vocabulary and section numbers did not, which matters when you read a notice, a Form 16 or a CA's computation: Provision 1961 Act Income-tax Act, 2025 Deductions for PPF, ELSS, life cover and similar 80C 123 Health insurance premium 80D 126 Capital gain reinvested in a house 54 / 54F 82 / 86 Capital gain invested in specified bonds 54EC 85 Presumptive tax for professionals 44ADA 58 Filing the return 139 263 Other practical changes: "tax year" replaces "previous year" and "assessment year"; Form 121 replaces Forms 15G and 15H; ITR-1 and ITR-2 stay due on 31 July while non-audit business and professional returns move to 31 August; and the window to file a revised return has been extended, with a fee after 31 December. Tax years before 2026-27 continue to be governed by the 1961 Act. Who Needs Ongoing Consultation vs. Annual Filing A once-a-year filing usually suffices for Ongoing consultation genuinely pays for itself for Salaried individuals with a single Form 16 and standard deductions Anyone with capital gains across multiple asset classes in a year Investors with modest, infrequent capital gains PMS investors generating a real annual stream of realised gains No business or freelance income Business owners and freelancers with GST obligations Straightforward, stable income year to year Anyone selling property, or receiving a large one-off gain, this year NRIs, who face additional TDS, DTAA and repatriation considerations Why Tax Should Sit Alongside Your Investments, Not Just With a CA A CA who only sees your financial life once a year, at filing time, is working from a rear-view mirror — reporting decisions that have already been made. A team that already services your mutual fund, PMS and AIF holdings can see the capital gains implication of a redemption before it happens, not after, and can time it alongside everything else in your portfolio rather than in isolation. That's not a replacement for a qualified CA on complex matters — it's a reason the two should be working from the same picture of your finances, not two disconnected ones. Tax consultation services in India compared: annual ITR filing suits a single Form 16 and standard deductions, while ongoing consultation suits capital gains, PMS, property sales, GST and NRI income Annual filing or ongoing consultation? Where Money n Wealth Fits In Money n Wealth's tax consultation service is built around exactly this connection — coordinating ITR filing, regime selection, capital gains timing and GST compliance alongside the investment decisions that actually drive most of it, rather than treating tax as a once-a-year filing exercise disconnected from your portfolio. Get in touch (/contact) to see what a coordinated tax-and-investment review would surface for your specific situation. Related reading on Money n Wealth Tax planning in India: old vs new regime, FY 2026-27 (/insights/tax-planning-guide-india) Tax planning for salaried families (/insights/tax-planning-salaried-families-india) How PMS works, including taxation (/insights/how-pms-works-onboarding-funding-taxation-exit) NRI taxation in India (/insights/nri-taxation-india-guide) Tax consultation at Money n Wealth (/products/tax) Frequently Asked Questions What does a tax consultant do in India? A tax consultant prepares and files income tax returns, helps choose between the old and new regimes, plans deductions, computes and times capital gains, works out advance tax and handles notices. For business owners the work extends to GST registration and returns. The most useful part is planning before transactions happen, not only filing after the year ends. What is the ITR filing due date for tax year 2026-27? For income earned between April 2026 and March 2027, ITR-1 and ITR-2 are due by 31 July 2027. Non-audit business and professional cases, usually ITR-3 and ITR-4, have until 31 August, and audit cases have later dates. Check the portal for any extension notified by CBDT before relying on a date. Who has to pay advance tax in India? Anyone whose tax for the year, after TDS, is ₹10,000 or more must pay advance tax: 15% by 15 June, 45% by 15 September, 75% by 15 December and 100% by 15 March. Resident senior citizens aged 60 or more without business or professional income are exempt. Shortfalls attract interest, earlier under Sections 234B and 234C. How can I save capital gains tax on selling property? Long-term gains on a house can be exempt if reinvested in another residential house (old Section 54, now Section 82), or up to ₹50 lakh can go into specified bonds within six months with a five-year lock-in (old 54EC, now Section 85). Gains on other assets reinvested in a house use old Section 54F, now Section 86. Each has strict timelines. Did income tax section numbers change in 2026? Yes. The Income-tax Act, 2025 applies from 1 April 2026 and renumbers most sections. For example, 80C is now Section 123, 80D is Section 126, 54EC is Section 85 and return filing under Section 139 is now Section 263. Rates and most limits are unchanged, and returns for earlier years still follow the 1961 Act. This article is for general information only and does not constitute tax or legal advice. Tax rates, exemption limits, deadlines and provisions cited here are as applicable for FY 2026-27 based on rules in force at the time of writing and are subject to change. Please consult a qualified Chartered Accountant or tax advisor for guidance specific to your situation before making any filing or investment decision. Money n Wealth (Predics Fintech Services Pvt Ltd) is an AMFI-registered Mutual Fund Distributor (ARN-121995) and APMI-registered PMS Distributor (APRN07444); it is not a SEBI-registered investment adviser and may earn distribution commission on investments made through it.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a tax consultant do in India?
A tax consultant prepares and files income tax returns, helps choose between the old and new regimes, plans deductions, computes and times capital gains, works out advance tax and handles notices. For business owners the work extends to GST registration and returns. The most useful part is planning before transactions happen, not only filing after the year ends.
What is the ITR filing due date for tax year 2026-27?
For income earned between April 2026 and March 2027, ITR-1 and ITR-2 are due by 31 July 2027. Non-audit business and professional cases, usually ITR-3 and ITR-4, have until 31 August, and audit cases have later dates. Check the portal for any extension notified by CBDT before relying on a date.
Who has to pay advance tax in India?
Anyone whose tax for the year, after TDS, is ₹10,000 or more must pay advance tax: 15% by 15 June, 45% by 15 September, 75% by 15 December and 100% by 15 March. Resident senior citizens aged 60 or more without business or professional income are exempt. Shortfalls attract interest, earlier under Sections 234B and 234C.
How can I save capital gains tax on selling property?
Long-term gains on a house can be exempt if reinvested in another residential house (old Section 54, now Section 82), or up to ₹50 lakh can go into specified bonds within six months with a five-year lock-in (old 54EC, now Section 85). Gains on other assets reinvested in a house use old Section 54F, now Section 86. Each has strict timelines.
Did income tax section numbers change in 2026?
Yes. The Income-tax Act, 2025 applies from 1 April 2026 and renumbers most sections. For example, 80C is now Section 123, 80D is Section 126, 54EC is Section 85 and return filing under Section 139 is now Section 263. Rates and most limits are unchanged, and returns for earlier years still follow the 1961 Act.
