If you are making a tax payment for Tax Year 2026–27 or onwards, the Income Tax Act, 2025 will apply.
For payments pertaining to periods before Tax Year 2026–27 (i.e., Assessment Year 2026–27 or earlier), you should select the Income Tax Act, 1961.
 

For payment of Self Assessment Tax for AY 2026–27, the Income Tax Act, 1961 will apply.
For payments pertaining to Tax Year 2026–27 onwards, the Income Tax Act, 2025 should be selected.
 

For Advance Tax relating to Tax Year 2026–27, the applicable law is the Income Tax Act, 2025.

Under the Income Tax Act, 2025, the following tax payments have been omitted and are therefore not applicable:
1.    Surtax (102)
2.    Tax on Distributed Profit of Companies (106)
3.    Tax on Distributed Income to Unit Holders (107)
4.    Tax on Distributed Income of Domestic Company for buy back of shares under Section 115QA of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (108)
5.    Payment of Demand / Penalty / Interest under the Black Money Act, 2015 (109)
6.    Banking Cash Transaction Tax (0036)
7.    Fringe Benefit Tax (0026)
8.    Hotel Receipts Tax (0023)
9.    Interest Tax (0024)
10.    Estate Duty (0031)
11.    Wealth Tax (0032)
12.    Gift Tax (0033)
13.    Equalization Levy (119)
 

No. The concept of Assessment Year exists under the Income Tax Act, 1961, whereas the Tax Year terminology has been introduced through the Income Tax Act, 2025.
There is no concept of Assessment Year under the Income Tax Act, 2025.
 

A Tax Year means the twelve month financial year commencing on 1st April.
For example, Tax Year 2026–27 under the Income Tax Act, 2025 refers to Financial Year 2026–27.
 

When a user clicks “Save as Draft”, the details filled till that point are saved and an entry is created under the Saved Drafts tab.
Saved draft challans (before CRN generation) are retained for 15 days from the date of the last update.
 

The taxpayer can edit or delete saved draft challans using the Actions tab.
A checkbox is also provided to select one or multiple drafts for deletion.
 

The Generated Challans tab displays challans for which CRN has been generated but CIN has not been generated, received, or updated.

Available actions depend on the payment mode selected and include:
•    Pay (for Net Banking, Debit Card, or Payment Gateway)
•    Download Challan Form / Mandate Form (for OTC and NEFT/RTGS)
•    Copy and View Details (common for all modes)
A generated challan expires after T+15 days from CRN generation.
Expired challans remain visible under the Generated Challans tab for 30 days from the “Valid Till” date.
 

Taxpayers can:
•    Download the challan receipt (PDF format)
•    View Details to see challan summary
•    Copy a challan to initiate a new payment with pre filled details
 

Tax payments can be made using challans generated from the e Filing portal through the following modes:
•    Net Banking
•    Debit Card
•    Payment Gateway (Net Banking / Debit Card / Credit Card / UPI)
•    NEFT / RTGS (via Mandate Form)
•    Over the Counter (OTC) at selected bank branches (cash, cheque, DD)
 

The taxpayer must log in to the e Filing portal, navigate to e File → e Pay Tax, initiate a new payment, select the applicable tax details, choose Net Banking as the payment mode, verify the details, and complete the payment.
After successful payment, confirmation is sent via email and SMS, and the challan receipt is available under Payment History.
 

After generating the challan on the e Filing portal and selecting Pay at Bank Counter, the challan form (CRN) must be printed and submitted at the selected bank branch using cash, cheque, or demand draft.
Payment confirmation and challan receipt are available under Payment History once payment is completed.
 

After selecting NEFT/RTGS as the payment mode, a Mandate Form is generated.
The taxpayer must print the mandate form and make payment via NEFT/RTGS either at a bank branch or through net banking after adding the beneficiary details.
Upon successful payment, challan details appear under Payment History.
 

The taxpayer selects Debit Card as the payment mode, verifies the details, and completes the transaction through the selected bank.
Successful payment confirmation is sent via email and SMS.
 

After selecting Payment Gateway, the taxpayer is redirected to the payment gateway website to complete the payment using Net Banking, Debit Card, Credit Card, or UPI.
Transaction charges may vary between gateways.
Confirmation is sent once payment is successful.
 

The CSI file contains vital challan information such as payment amount, date, section, and type of tax.
It is used during TDS return filing to verify whether tax payments have been correctly accounted for.
 

Only TAN users can download the CSI file by logging in with TAN as User ID.

After logging in with TAN, go to e File → e Pay Tax → Payment History, apply a payment date filter, and download the CSI file once the option is enabled.
CSI files cannot be downloaded using Assessment Year or Payment Type filters.
 

CSI files can be downloaded only for a maximum period of 24 months using the date range filter.

No. CSI files for periods prior to 01 July 2022 cannot be downloaded from the e Filing portal.
For earlier periods, users must download the file from the Protean (NSDL) portal.
 

The CSI file is downloaded in .csi format, which is compatible with TDS return preparation utilities such as RPU.

Users can check payment status through Know Your Payment Status under pre login services on the e Filing portal by entering PAN, CRN, and mobile number, followed by OTP verification.
 

These details are available under the Payment History tab by clicking the Action button for the respective challan.