Self Assessment Tax
It is the primary responsibility of the assessee to return all income earned during the year, claim allwable exemtions, compute net assessible income, calculate tax at rates applicable and pay the exact amount of tax before filing the return Sometimes, even before filing the return as estimate of tax is made and a lump sum is deposited by the assessee into the government account. For the applicable category of assessees, every quarter, an estimate of the annual income has to be made and approximate amount of tax is to be paid. employer deducts tax from the salary of employee, computed on salary income as well as any other income declared to him by the employee voluntarily, andissues certificate in Form 16. Similarly tax deducted t source by banks, professional and contractual payments etc. are matched by certificates issued by the deductors in Form 16-A.
Thus the assessee, on the date of preparing the return, will have one or more of these. TDS Form 16, TDS form 16-A, Copy of challans for tax paid in advance every quarter and lump sum self estimated tax paid apart from advance tax (this is part of elf assessment tax) and the sum paid on or before filing the return, upon exact calculation.(self assessment tax.
In short, any tax deposited into government account , by the assessee on his own, not against a demand made by the tax department, and not withheld by any other person and directly paid into government account, on account of the assessee, is self assessment tax.
The sum total of all such tax paid, either self assessment or withheld one, shall be equal to or more than the actual tax computed in the return and excess paid, if any can be claimed as refundable. (such a situation may arise if the self-assessment tax paid had not taken into account any earlier payments effected or withheld tax accurately and hence the approximate amount paid may happen to take the total tax beyond actuualy due, and hence refunable).