4 key personal finance tasks that you must do this month
The month of September could be important for you from a personal finance perspective, as there are 4 important tasks to be completed. In case you miss the deadlines, you may have to cough up a penalty. So, here are some key personal finance tasks to be completed before September 30.
1. File your income tax return
As of now, the last date to file income-tax (IT) returns for individuals is September 30, 2021. This is for financial year 2020-21 (assessment year 2021-22). Do not wait to file IT returns at the wee end. If you do not file your income tax before September 30, then you will have to pay interest on the tax due. A late-filing fee of Rs 5,000 can be payable. Do note the amount of late-filing fees will not exceed Rs 1,000 if the total income does not cross Rs 5 lakh in a financial year.
2. PAN-Aadhaar linking
The last date to link PAN card with Aadhaar is September 30, 2021. After the deadline ends, all the PAN cards which are not linked to Aadhaar would be summarily declared inoperative. As an individual, you cannot make any financial transaction if your PAN is not linked to your Aadhaar. Do note that PAN card is mandatory for opening a bank account, buying MF units or equity shares, and making cash transactions of over Rs 50,000 etc. If PAN becomes inactive, then the underlying financial account can be impacted.
A penalty of Rs 10,000 may apply if you fail to link the two documents by the deadline and your PAN becomes inoperative.
3. Update KYC in your demat account
September 30, 2021 is the last date for updating the KYC details in demat accounts of investors. According to a SEBI circular, an investor has to update name, address, income range, mobile number, email id, PAN, etc. in the demat account. What happens if you don’t? Well, your account could be deactivated. The demat account will be activated only after updating the KYC.
4. Update mobile number in bank accounts
RBI has made the additional factor of authentication mandatory after September 30. From October 1, for recurring payments through third-party merchant websites, the bank would need to send you a communication five days in advance and at least 24 hours before the payment date to your mobile number. Hence, you should update your mobile number in bank accounts. If your bank has an inactive mobile number in its records, your auto-debit transaction will not get authenticated and bank account will not get debited. Auto-debit mandates are given for loan EMI installments, mobile phone bills, insurance premium, mutual fund SIPs, etc. Do note that your auto-debit transaction bounces or fails, your bank may charge fees on the auto-pay mandate.
