In short: Chennai’s taxpayers — salaried professionals across the OMR IT/GCC corridor, engineers and plant staff along the Ambattur–Sriperumbudur–Oragadam auto belt, export-oriented manufacturers, freelancers and independent professionals, and the city’s substantial NRI community that remits money home and buys property along OMR and ECR — each carry meaningfully different income tax obligations. Getting the ITR form, the tax regime choice, and, for NRIs and their buyers, the TDS obligation right matters as much as filing on time. CA Murli Chandak, FCA, works with Chennai and Tamil Nadu individuals, NRIs, professionals and businesses on ITR filing, tax planning, TDS/TCS compliance including NRI property transactions, and notice or assessment support within this framework.
Contents
- 1. What Is an Income Tax Consultant?
- 2. Why Chennai Taxpayers Need Professional Tax Guidance
- 3. Chennai’s Tax Landscape: Manufacturing Exports, GCC Growth and the NRI Property Corridor
- 4. Services I Provide as Your Income Tax Consultant in Chennai
- 5. ITR Filing: Your Form, Your Deadline, Your Documents
- 6. Tax Planning and Advisory
- 7. Old vs New Tax Regime: Which Should You Choose?
- 8. TDS, TCS and NRI Payment Compliance
- 9. Tax Notices, Scrutiny and Reassessment: What to Do If You Receive One
- 10. Who Should Hire an Income Tax Consultant in Chennai?
- 11. What to Look For in a Consultant — and How I Meet That Standard
- 12. Why Work With CA Murli Chandak
- 13. Frequently Asked Questions
- Speak to CA Murli Chandak
1. What Is an Income Tax Consultant?
An income tax consultant helps individuals and businesses understand what they owe and file it correctly — ITR preparation, tax planning, TDS/TCS compliance, and support when a notice or assessment proceeding arrives. This matters most once a taxpayer moves beyond a single salary: rental income, capital gains, business income or an NRI’s India-sourced income each carry their own reporting treatment, and getting the combination right is rarely a five-minute task.
Basic ITR filing and comprehensive tax advisory are not the same service. Filing collects the numbers, prepares the return and gets it submitted and verified. Advisory goes further — comparing the old and new regime on your actual numbers, planning a transaction’s tax impact before it happens rather than after, and building a documentation trail that holds up if a question is raised later.
Depending on what you need, I assist with:
- Preparing and filing Income Tax Returns, and selecting the correct ITR form
- Comparing the old and new tax regimes on your specific numbers
- Tax planning and deduction timing before the financial year closes
- TDS and TCS compliance, including buyer-side TDS on payments to NRI sellers
- Reporting income from salary, business, profession, rent, investments and capital gains
- NRI taxation — property sale, rental income, repatriation and DTAA relief
- Revised, belated and updated returns where applicable
- Responding to income tax intimations, notices and assessment proceedings
Whichever consultant you’re evaluating — not only me — verify the professional qualification claimed. A Chartered Accountant’s membership is checkable on the ICAI website. Qualification alone doesn’t tell you whether they’ve handled a profile like yours, whether that’s a plant-floor manager on a manufacturing payroll, a GCC employee with RSUs, or an NRI in Singapore selling an inherited flat in Adyar.
2. Why Chennai Taxpayers Need Professional Tax Guidance
Chennai combines a large industrial and manufacturing workforce, a fast-growing GCC and IT/ITES base, export-oriented businesses trading through Chennai and Ennore ports, and one of the country’s more established NRI communities. Two taxpayers earning the same salary in this city can have genuinely different filing obligations depending on which of these categories they fall into.
Multiple, overlapping income sources. A Chennai taxpayer commonly combines several of the following in one year:
- Salary or professional income
- Rental income from a flat along OMR, ECR or elsewhere in the city
- Capital gains from shares, mutual funds or the sale of property
- Business income from a manufacturing unit, trading business or export operation
- Interest, dividend and other passive income
- For NRIs, India-sourced income that still needs to be reported here even while resident abroad
Each of these carries its own reporting treatment, and missing one is a routine, avoidable trigger for a mismatch notice once the Department’s own data reconciliation flags it.
Compliance that doesn’t sit in isolation. For a manufacturing or export business, income tax runs alongside GST, TDS deduction and deposit, and statutory records — each on its own deadline, drawing on the same underlying numbers. For an NRI seller, the income tax position runs alongside a FEMA repatriation step that the buyer’s bank will not process without the right paperwork.
What getting it wrong actually costs. A missed deduction, the wrong ITR form, or an under-deducted TDS on a property sale can mean interest, a notice, or — in an NRI property sale specifically — a buyer who withholds far more tax than is actually owed because nobody applied for a lower deduction certificate in time.
Planning before the transaction, not after. Regime choice, timing a share sale, or applying for a lower TDS certificate ahead of a property sale only work if they happen before the transaction closes. A once-a-year filing relationship misses most of this.
3. Chennai’s Tax Landscape: Manufacturing Exports, GCC Growth and the NRI Property Corridor
Chennai’s tax base looks different from most Indian metros because three large, distinct taxpayer groups sit inside the same city.
- India’s “Detroit” for a reason. Chennai accounts for close to 30% of India’s total automobile production and around 35% of its auto-component output, spread along a roughly 60km automotive corridor through Ambattur, Sriperumbudur, Oragadam and Maraimalai Nagar. OEMs with plants in and around the city include Hyundai, Ford, Renault-Nissan, BMW, Ashok Leyland and Daimler, supported by hundreds of Tier-I to Tier-IV component suppliers. For salaried plant staff, engineers and business owners in this belt, the tax questions tend to centre on regime choice against a fairly standard salary-plus-deductions profile, and on business income and TDS compliance for the component suppliers themselves.
- A fast-growing GCC and IT/ITES base. Chennai’s Global Capability Centre count has grown from roughly 150 in 2021 to 300-plus by 2024-25, concentrated along the OMR IT corridor. GCC and IT/ITES employees more often have RSUs, ESOPs or performance bonuses layered on top of salary, each with its own reporting step.
- One of India’s more established NRI-linked property markets. Tamil Nadu has a long-standing NRI community across the US, UK, Singapore and the Gulf, and a meaningful share of Chennai’s residential transactions — particularly along OMR and ECR — involve NRI buyers, sellers or landlords. This is the taxpayer group most likely to be caught out by a rule they didn’t know applied to them: TDS on a property sale by an NRI is deducted differently, and usually more heavily, than on a resident-to-resident sale, a point covered in detail in Section 8 below.
None of this changes the underlying law — the Income-tax Act applies the same way to a Chennai taxpayer as anywhere else in India. What changes is which parts of it come up most often, and that’s what a consultant who works with this city’s taxpayer mix day to day tends to catch faster.
4. Services I Provide as Your Income Tax Consultant in Chennai
As a practising Chartered Accountant, I assist Chennai and Tamil Nadu individuals, professionals, businesses and NRIs with:
- ITR filing across all taxpayer profiles — salaried, freelance, proprietorship, partnership, LLP, company and NRI
- Tax planning and advisory, including a side-by-side old-versus-new regime comparison on your actual numbers
- TDS and TCS compliance — deduction, deposit, return filing, Form 16/16A queries, and buyer-side TDS obligations on payments to NRI sellers under Section 195
- NRI taxation — property sale capital gains, rental income, lower TDS certificate applications, repatriation documentation and DTAA relief
- Notice and assessment support — reviewing an intimation, scrutiny or reassessment notice, organising the documentary response, and representing the matter within the scope of professional (non-litigation) engagement
- Capital gains and valuation-adjacent income tax matters — where a transfer of unquoted shares, an ESOP exercise, or a related-party transaction also raises a fair market value question, my IBBI registration as a Registered Valuer (Securities or Financial Assets, IBBI/RV/07/2021/14408) means the valuation and the tax position can be handled within the same engagement
- Coordinated compliance — where a manufacturing or export business also needs GST advisory, statutory audit support or outsourced bookkeeping alongside its income tax position
5. ITR Filing: Your Form, Your Deadline, Your Documents
By taxpayer profile. A salaried GCC or manufacturing employee’s return is usually the simplest — until rental income, RSUs or capital gains are added, at which point the correct form and disclosures change. Freelancers and professionals need TDS credits (often spread across several Form 16As) reconciled against Form 26AS and the Annual Information Statement before filing. NRIs have their own filing obligation wherever they have India-sourced income, even with no other India presence. Proprietors, partnerships, LLPs and companies carry more detailed disclosure requirements tied to their specific structure.
Selecting the correct form. One change worth knowing for this filing season: from AY 2026-27, ITR-1 (Sahaj) can now be used by a taxpayer who owns up to two house properties — previously, a second property meant moving to the more detailed ITR-2 even if every other condition for ITR-1 was met. Note that ITR-1 remains unavailable to NRIs regardless of this change; most NRIs with property or capital gains income file ITR-2 or ITR-3.
This year’s deadlines (AY 2026-27, for income earned in FY 2025-26). This is the last assessment year governed by the Income-tax Act, 1961 — the Income-tax Act, 2025 applies from Tax Year 2026-27 onward, for income earned from 1 April 2026, with that return not due until July 2027. For the return you’re filing now:
| Taxpayer Category | ITR Form | Due Date |
|---|---|---|
| Salaried individuals and pensioners (no audit) | ITR-1 / ITR-2 | 31 July 2026 |
| Proprietors, freelancers and professionals not requiring a tax audit | ITR-3 / ITR-4 | 31 August 2026 — a genuine Finance Act, 2026 change, a full month later than the salaried deadline |
| Businesses and professionals requiring a tax audit | ITR-3 / ITR-5 / ITR-6 | 31 October 2026 |
| Taxpayers required to furnish a transfer pricing report | Applicable ITR form, with Form 3CEB | 30 November 2026 |
Miss the original date, and a belated return can generally still be filed up to 31 December 2026; a genuine error in a return already filed on time can be corrected through a revised return, with that window now extended to 31 March 2027.
Documents to keep ready. A typical starting list, depending on your category:
- Form 16 (salaried) or Form 16A / Form 26AS / Annual Information Statement (professional and other income)
- Bank statements for the financial year, across all accounts — NRE/NRO statements for NRIs
- Capital gains statement from your broker, demat account, mutual fund platform or property sale deed
- Home loan interest certificate, and rent receipts or rental agreement, where applicable
- Investment proofs for any deductions you intend to claim under the old regime
- For NRIs: PAN, passport/OCI details, TDS certificates from buyers, and any lower deduction certificate obtained
- Last year’s filed return, for continuity and to carry forward any losses
If you’d like a formatted, printable version of this checklist tailored to your specific taxpayer category, message me on WhatsApp or email and I’ll send one across at no charge.
E-verification isn’t optional. A return that is filed but never e-verified within the prescribed window is treated as if it was never filed — verification through the e-filing portal, net banking, or Aadhaar OTP is the final and easily overlooked step.
6. Tax Planning and Advisory
Tax planning means understanding what’s actually taxable, then making legitimate decisions — within the law, before the transaction — that manage the resulting liability. It can’t be done retroactively in March, and for a property sale or an NRI repatriation it needs to start well before the deal closes.
Mapping every source of income — salary, business or professional income, house property, capital gains, interest and, for NRIs, India-sourced income specifically — is the starting point, since overlooking even one is a common, avoidable trigger for a mismatch notice.
Deductions and exemptions depend heavily on which regime you’re in; a deduction that meaningfully reduces tax under the old regime may not be claimable at all under the new one, which is why the two need to be compared on your own numbers.
A worked example — salaried, Chennai auto/GCC employee, ₹14,00,000 salary. Assume ₹1,50,000 under Section 80C, ₹25,000 under 80D, ₹2,00,000 home loan interest under Section 24(b), and ₹50,000 under 80CCD(1B) — ₹4,25,000 of genuine old-regime deductions, well above what many salaried taxpayers actually claim.
| Old Regime | New Regime | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxable income after deductions | ₹9,25,000 | ₹13,25,000 |
| Tax before cess | ₹97,500 | ₹78,750 |
| Tax with 4% cess | ₹1,01,400 | ₹81,900 |
Even with ₹4,25,000 of genuine deductions claimed, the new regime still saves roughly ₹19,500 here — a result that surprises many taxpayers who assume a large deduction total automatically favours the old regime. The actual answer depends entirely on your numbers, which is exactly why this needs to be calculated, not assumed.
For NRIs and property owners, the fair market value of unquoted shares at a transfer or gift, or the capital gains position on a Chennai property sale, often needs planning attention well before the transaction, including whether a lower TDS certificate application is worth making (Section 8 below).
7. Old vs New Tax Regime: Which Should You Choose?
There is no universally better regime — the right answer depends on your income, your eligible deductions and exemptions, and your investment and housing position, and it can change from year to year as your circumstances change.
The old regime retains access to a wider set of deductions and exemptions — Section 80C, 80D, HRA, home loan interest and others — subject to conditions, which tends to favour taxpayers with substantial qualifying claims, commonly seen among longer-tenured manufacturing and PSU-linked employees in Chennai with home loans and insurance commitments.
The new regime follows revised slabs with far fewer deductions, but a materially higher effective tax-free threshold through the Section 87A rebate. For FY 2025-26, the new regime carries nil tax up to ₹12,00,000 of taxable income — roughly ₹12,75,000 of gross salary once the ₹75,000 standard deduction is applied — a genuinely attractive default for a salaried taxpayer without large old-regime claims, and the worked example in Section 6 shows it can still win even with meaningful deductions.
Business and professional taxpayers who choose the old regime need to file Form 10-IEA by the due date — missing that filing step means defaulting into the new regime regardless of preference.
Not sure which regime saves you more this year, whether your GCC RSUs or a Chennai property sale change the answer, or which ITR form applies once an NRI sale or capital gain enters the picture? A short call with CA Murli Chandak is the fastest way to get a real answer on your own numbers before you file.
8. TDS, TCS and NRI Payment Compliance
Businesses and professionals with deduction obligations need to identify which payments attract TDS — salary, rent, professional fees and contractor payments among them — deduct the correct amount, deposit it on time, and report it correctly. Salary TDS is governed by Section 192 of the Income-tax Act, 1961, renumbered to Section 392 under the Income-tax Act, 2025, which takes effect from Tax Year 2026-27; for this filing season the 1961 Act numbering still governs, and the broader TDS framework (spread across 60-plus sections in the 1961 Act) has been consolidated into a small number of sections under the new Act.
Where Chennai’s NRI-linked property market makes this materially different: Section 195. When a buyer purchases property from an NRI seller, TDS is deducted under Section 195, not the flat 1% Section 194-IA rate that applies to a resident-to-resident sale above ₹50 lakh. Instead:
| Holding Period | Nature of Gain | TDS Basis |
|---|---|---|
| More than 24 months | Long-term capital gain | 12.5% (no indexation), plus applicable surcharge and 4% cess |
| 24 months or less | Short-term capital gain | Applicable slab rate (up to 30%), plus applicable surcharge and 4% cess |
Two details catch buyers and NRI sellers out repeatedly. First, there is no minimum sale-value threshold for Section 195 TDS, unlike the ₹50 lakh threshold under Section 194-IA. Second, unless a lower deduction certificate is obtained, the buyer is expected to deduct TDS on the full sale consideration, not just the computed gain — which can lock up a large sum against a much smaller actual tax liability until a refund is claimed through the NRI’s ITR.
The fix: a Section 197 lower deduction certificate (Form 13), applied for by the seller before the sale closes. Where the computed gain and resulting tax liability are meaningfully lower than a flat deduction on the full sale value would produce, this certificate lets the buyer deduct only the actual liability — avoiding a refund claim that can otherwise take months to process.
A worked illustration. An NRI sells a Chennai flat purchased years ago for ₹45,00,000, now sold for ₹1,40,00,000, held well beyond 24 months. Long-term capital gain: ₹95,00,000. Tax at 12.5% plus a 10% surcharge and 4% cess works out to roughly ₹13.6 lakh. Deducted on the full sale value at the same rate and surcharge, TDS would come to roughly ₹20 lakh — around ₹6.4 lakh more than the actual liability, refundable only after the return is filed and processed. A Form 13 application made before the sale closes brings the TDS itself down to the correct figure.
Reinvestment relief remains available to NRIs on the same terms as resident sellers — Section 54 (reinvestment in a residential property), Section 54EC (specified capital gains bonds, within 6 months, up to ₹50 lakh) and Section 54F, each with its own conditions and timelines.
Repatriation. Moving sale proceeds or other funds out of India requires the remittance certification that, from 1 April 2026, is filed on new Forms 145 and 146 under the Income-tax Rules, 2026 — replacing the earlier Form 15CA/15CB process. A DTAA between India and the seller’s country of residence (the US, UK, Singapore and UAE agreements are the ones I see most often in this client base) can also affect how the gain is taxed in the country of residence and what credit is available there for Indian tax already paid.
9. Tax Notices, Scrutiny and Reassessment: What to Do If You Receive One
An income tax notice is unsettling mainly because the reason for it isn’t always obvious on first read. The first step is always the same: identify exactly which section the notice is issued under, and what response, if any, it actually requires.
Which Act applies to your notice. This is worth being precise about. Section 536 of the Income-tax Act, 2025 — its “Repeal and Savings” clause — formally repeals the 1961 Act from 1 April 2026, but Section 536(2)(c) specifically preserves the 1961 Act for any proceeding relating to a tax year up to and including AY 2026-27, including notices, assessment, reassessment, recomputation, rectification, penalty, reference, revision and appeal — whether that proceeding was already pending or is initiated on or after 1 April 2026. In practice, a notice you receive in late 2026 or even 2027 relating to your FY 2025-26 income will almost certainly still cite 1961 Act section numbers.
| Notice Type | Section | What It Means |
|---|---|---|
| Defective return | 139(9) | A specific defect must be corrected, typically within 15 days |
| Intimation / adjustment | 143(1) | Automated processing has adjusted the income or refund you declared |
| Scrutiny assessment | 143(2) | Your return has been picked up for detailed examination |
| Reassessment | 147 / 148, with a 148A show-cause step first | The Department believes income has escaped assessment in a closed year |
| Demand notice | 156 | A specific tax amount is now payable |
Increasingly faceless. Most scrutiny assessments and first appeals proceed under the Faceless Assessment Scheme and Faceless Appeal Scheme — submissions go through the e-filing portal’s e-Proceedings tab, and the assessing or appellate authority is allocated centrally rather than by your city or ward. Every notice, every response and every supporting document needs to be uploaded correctly and within the stated window — there’s no informal in-person follow-up available, which makes getting the written response right the first time more important, not less.
Appeals. A first appeal against an assessment or notice lies to the Joint Commissioner (Appeals) or Commissioner of Income-tax (Appeals) — Section 246A of the 1961 Act, becoming Sections 356 to 360 under the Income-tax Act, 2025’s consolidated Appeals, Revision and Alternate Dispute Resolution chapter. A further appeal lies to the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal — Section 253 under the 1961 Act, Sections 361 to 364 under the new Act — and, on a substantial question of law, to the High Court and Supreme Court beyond that.
For NRI-specific notices — a mismatch flagged because a buyer’s TDS return doesn’t reconcile with the NRI seller’s ITR, or a query on a lower deduction certificate application — the documentation trail (sale deed, TDS certificates, Form 13 correspondence) needs to be organised and cross-referenced carefully, since the seller is often responding from outside India with limited ability to visit an office in person.
Where this crosses into formal legal representation — a scrutiny assessment that escalates to reassessment, or an appeal before the ITAT or beyond — I coordinate with appropriate legal counsel within the same engagement rather than leaving you to find one separately, while handling the tax computation, documentation and professional representation directly.
10. Who Should Hire an Income Tax Consultant in Chennai?
- Salaried GCC and IT/ITES employees with RSUs, ESOPs or bonuses layered on top of salary
- Manufacturing and auto-sector professionals and business owners along the Ambattur–Sriperumbudur–Oragadam corridor
- NRIs selling or renting out property in Chennai, or repatriating funds and needing a lower deduction certificate or DTAA position worked through correctly
- Buyers purchasing property from an NRI seller, who carry the legal responsibility to deduct TDS correctly under Section 195
- Freelancers and independent consultants, especially those billing overseas clients, with TDS credits to reconcile
- Export-oriented and trading businesses juggling income tax alongside GST, TDS and accounting deadlines
- Anyone who has received a notice or is facing scrutiny, and needs the response organised and filed correctly and on time
11. What to Look For in a Consultant — and How I Meet That Standard
| What to Check | How I Meet It |
|---|---|
| Verifiable professional qualification | FCA — a Fellow Chartered Accountant membership, checkable on the ICAI register — alongside IBBI registration as a Registered Valuer, IBBI/RV/07/2021/14408, checkable on the IBBI’s own directory |
| Relevant, not just general, experience | 8+ years across statutory, concurrent and asset audits, due diligence and forensic work, plus 300+ valuations across 7+ countries — spanning salaried, business, capital-gains and NRI/cross-border tax profiles |
| Genuine familiarity with NRI/cross-border transactions | Regular work on Section 195 TDS computation, Form 13 lower-deduction certificate applications and DTAA-relevant transactions, not a one-off unfamiliar service |
| Clear service scope before engagement begins | What’s covered — filing, planning, TDS/TCS, NRI transactions, notice support — and what would be a separate scope (litigation before a court, for instance) is set out before work starts |
| Transparent fees | No published flat fee, because a salaried ITR-1 and an NRI property sale with a lower-deduction certificate application genuinely take different amounts of work — scope is confirmed on a call first, quote follows |
| Flexibility between online and in-person, including across time zones | Full remote engagement for Chennai and NRI clients — document sharing, calls and e-verification handled without an office visit, scheduled to work across the US, UK, Singapore or Gulf time zones where needed |
On fees specifically: the lowest quote is rarely the best measure of value. A quote that looks low often covers filing only, with planning, notice support or an NRI TDS certificate application charged separately and not mentioned upfront. Ask what’s actually included before comparing two numbers against each other.
12. Why Work With CA Murli Chandak
- Credentials that check out independently, not just on my own word. FCA, and IBBI-registered as a Registered Valuer for Securities or Financial Assets since 25 October 2021 (IBBI/RV/07/2021/14408) — both verifiable on the ICAI and IBBI registers directly.
- An audit background behind the tax practice. Formerly Partner at a chartered accountancy firm, with statutory, concurrent and asset audit experience, due diligence and forensic assignments — 8+ years and 300+ completed valuations across 7+ countries, including 15+ purchase price allocations and 30+ impairment tests under Ind AS, with work that has held up before Big Four audit teams on review.
- A genuine edge on valuation-linked and cross-border tax questions. Where your position turns on the fair market value of unquoted shares, an ESOP exercise, or an NRI property transaction needing a Section 195/Form 13 computation, I can work the valuation and the tax position as one engagement.
- An investor’s-eye view. Debt and equity valuation work for 10+ Indian funds gives context that’s directly relevant to Chennai’s growing GCC, startup and auto-ancillary business base.
- Direct engagement. You deal with me, not a junior handed your file — from the first call through to filing, an NRI certificate application, or notice resolution.
13. Frequently Asked Questions
Q1. What does an income tax consultant do?
A: An income tax consultant helps with ITR filing, tax planning, TDS/TCS compliance, and support with income tax notices, assessments and appeals. The exact scope depends on what you need and the consultant’s own practice areas.
Q2. How much does an income tax consultant charge in Chennai?
A: It depends entirely on complexity — a salaried ITR-1 takes far less work than an NRI property sale needing a lower-deduction certificate, or a business return with capital gains and TDS obligations. I confirm scope on a call first and quote after, rather than publishing a flat fee that wouldn’t fit most Chennai profiles.
Q3. I’m an NRI selling property in Chennai — how much TDS will actually be deducted?
A: Under Section 195, the buyer must deduct TDS at your applicable capital gains rate — 12.5% (no indexation) plus surcharge and cess for long-term gains, or slab rates plus surcharge and cess for short-term gains — and, without a lower deduction certificate, usually on the full sale value rather than just the gain. Applying for a Form 13 certificate before the sale closes can bring the deducted amount down to your actual liability. See Section 8 above.
Q4. Can you help with repatriating sale proceeds out of India?
A: Yes — the remittance certification (Forms 145 and 146 from 1 April 2026, replacing the earlier Form 15CA/15CB) is part of the same engagement, alongside the capital gains computation and any DTAA position relevant to your country of residence.
Q5. Which ITR form should I choose?
A: It depends on your taxpayer category and income sources. As of AY 2026-27, ITR-1 can be used with up to two house properties, though NRIs remain outside ITR-1 regardless. Income from capital gains, business or an NRI’s India-sourced income generally means ITR-2 or ITR-3. I review your actual sources before confirming the form.
Q6. What is the ITR filing deadline for AY 2026-27?
A: 31 July 2026 for salaried individuals filing ITR-1/ITR-2; 31 August 2026 for ITR-3/ITR-4 filers not requiring a tax audit (a new, later date this year under the Finance Act, 2026); 31 October 2026 for audit cases; and 30 November 2026 where a transfer pricing report is required.
Q7. Old or new tax regime — which is better?
A: There’s no single answer. It depends on your income and your eligible deductions and exemptions — the worked example in Section 6 shows the new regime can still win even with substantial old-regime deductions claimed. I calculate your actual liability under both and compare them.
Q8. Does the Income-tax Act, 2025 apply to my return or notice this year?
A: No. AY 2026-27 (income earned in FY 2025-26) is the last assessment year governed by the Income-tax Act, 1961, and Section 536 of the new Act specifically preserves 1961 Act procedure for notices, assessments and appeals relating to this and earlier years, even if issued after 1 April 2026. The Income-tax Act, 2025 applies to income earned from 1 April 2026, with that return not due until July 2027.
Q9. Can you handle an income tax notice for me?
A: Yes, within professional scope — reviewing the notice, identifying what it actually requires, organising the response and supporting documents, and filing it. Where a matter escalates to formal litigation before a court, I coordinate with appropriate legal counsel alongside my own work on the file.
Q10. I’m buying property from an NRI seller — what’s my responsibility?
A: As the buyer, you are legally required to deduct TDS under Section 195 at the seller’s applicable capital gains rate, not the flat 1% that applies to resident-to-resident sales. Deducting too little makes you personally liable for the shortfall, interest and possible penalty, so this is worth getting right before you pay.
Q11. Is CA Murli Chandak based in Chennai?
A: My registered address is in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, and my practice serves clients across India and NRIs abroad, including Chennai and Tamil Nadu, entirely remotely where preferred.
Speak to CA Murli Chandak
Whether you need your ITR filed correctly this season, a regime comparison on your actual numbers, an NRI property sale structured with the right TDS and repatriation paperwork, or help responding to a notice, a preliminary discussion covering your situation, the applicable law and the timeline is available at no charge and typically takes 30 minutes.
CA Murli Chandak — FCA | IBBI-Registered Valuer (Securities or Financial Assets), IBBI/RV/07/2021/14408
Website: murlichandak.com
Phone: +91 99985 39902
Email: murlichandak@murlichandak.com
LinkedIn: Connect with CA Murli Chandak
More on CA Murli Chandak’s background is available on the About page.
Statutory positions referred to above, including the Section 536 repeal-and-savings analysis and the Section 195 NRI TDS rates, were verified against primary and multiply-corroborated secondary sources, including the Income Tax Department’s own guidance, on 15 August 2026. This article is general information, not advice on any specific return, notice or transaction; specialist tax advice should be taken before acting on any of it. If you are experiencing financial difficulty, independent guidance is available and this article should not be treated as a substitute for it.
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