Next: Tax
Freelance and gig income: the tax rulebook
No employer, no payroll — but your clients still deduct TDS, presumptive taxation can replace the bookkeeping, and advance tax comes with real deadlines.
21 min
beginner
TDS, Form 16 and AIS: where your tax went
Tax leaves your pay before you ever see it. Read Form 16, match it against 26AS and the AIS, and settle any mismatch before you file, not after a notice.
3 lessons · about 18 minutes · written for reading age 13 · last checked 2026-08-11
Tax you never saw leave
TDS is tax withheld by whoever pays you and deposited against your PAN. It is an advance on your bill, never the bill itself — filing is where the two meet.
6 min
Form 16, decoded
The certificate your employer owes you by 15 June, in two parts: Part A proves the tax reached the government, Part B shows how the figure was arrived at.
6 min
26AS, AIS, and the mismatch drill
Three statements on the portal show what the department already knows about you. Reconciling them before you file costs far less than answering a notice later.
6 min
Check yourself
4 questions at the end. Every wrong answer explains itself.
Tools for this
What changed recently
Dated commentary on this topic — a Budget change, a new rule, a scam pattern.
Sources
- Income Tax Department — official portal — Income Tax Department · checked 2026-08-11