Facilitation charges and GST will be applicable for paying Income Tax using ‘Payment Gateway’ on the e-filing Income Tax website. If you pay using the ‘Payment Gateway’ – which is one of the five payment options shown below, transaction charges will apply for certain modes of payment.
The following table appears when you click on ‘Transaction Fee’. The table specifies the charges applicable to certain modes of payment made through the payment gateway.
Source: Income Tax E-Filing Portal as on 3.9.2022
Here’s an example to illustrate how much you’ll pay extra on income tax. Suppose you have to pay income tax of Rs 30,000 and you choose to pay it by credit card. A convenience fee of 0.85% will be levied on Rs 30,000. This amount will be Rs 255. GST will also be applicable on the convenience fee (Rs 255), i.e. Rs 45.9. Thus, a person paying income tax through credit card will have to pay Rs 30,000 + Rs 255 + Rs 45.9 = 30,300.9, approximately Rs 301 extra. The fee will increase in proportion to the increase in income tax paid using a credit card. However, if income tax is paid using net banking option along with GST, a flat fee will be applicable on the payment gateway method.
Abhishek Soni, CEO, ITR filing firm tax2win.in says, “There is a transaction charge for using the payment gateway method for making income tax payments on the new income tax portal. The payment gateway method is applicable for paying income tax using net banking of unauthorized banks, credit cards and UPI. However, if Income Tax is paid on NSDL website then no transaction charges are applicable. NSDL website allows an individual to pay income tax through net banking option without any charges. Whereas if the e-filing portal is used to pay income tax through HDFC net banking, a convenience fee of Rs 12 along with GST will be applicable.
As per the e-filing income tax portal, if a person pays tax using the net banking option of authorized banks, no transaction fee/fees is applicable. However, at present, the authorized banks are only three- Federal Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Bank of India. Thus, if a person pays income tax using the net banking option of these banks, no transaction fee will be applicable.
Apart from net banking, the e-filing income tax portal allows an individual to pay income tax using NEFT, RTGS and over-the-counter (physically at the bank branch) options. Payment through Debit Card is not yet enabled on the e-filing portal.
There is usually no charge for making payment through cheque at the bank counter. NEFT/RTGS are applicable as per the bank.