Financial Year-End Checklist for Individuals: What to Do Before 31 March

March is when money decisions start happening. You get proof-submission emails from payroll, a few “last chance to save tax” calls, and suddenly you’re spending not because you planned to, but because the calendar is compelling you. The problem isn’t that tax planning is bad. The problem is that financial year end planning becomes a panic.

The real purpose of year-end planning is not to exhaust tax sections but to review how money behaved over the year, where it flowed efficiently, where it leaked, and where it was underutilised. Without this reflection, individuals carry forward inefficiencies into the next financial year, allowing small misalignments to compound quietly over time.

What Should You Confirm First Before Doing Anything Else?

Before you do a single “tax-saving” move, you need one uncomfortable moment of clarity. Which tax regime are you actually going to use—old or new tax regime? Most planning mistakes start here. In the new tax regime, you can’t claim tax benefits under Section 80C, 80D, etc. In order to avail such tax benefits, you need to opt out of the new tax regime. That said, tax-saving or not, you should always stay invested to create long-term wealth. 

What Can’t Be Fixed After 31 March?

If you’re salaried, the real deadline often isn’t 31 March. It’s the proof submission deadline set by your employer. Miss it, and your TDS may stay higher than it needs to, or your claims may not be considered in payroll calculations. That doesn’t always ruin you, but it does create unnecessary cash flow stress.

If you’re self-employed or freelancing, the “can’t fix later” category is different with records, reconciliation, and tax estimation. This is because messy numbers later become messy filing, where you end up either paying more than you should or wasting days trying to decode your own year.

Think of this as the one week where you organise your money so future-you doesn’t hate present-you.

What Should Salaried Individuals Check Before FY End?

Start with a boring question that saves real money. Is your TDS aligned with your actual income this year? If you changed jobs, got a bonus, received variable pay, or earned side income, your payroll system may not perfectly mirror your reality. That gap is where surprises are born.

Then look at claims like HRA, home-loan interest, and deductions with one strict rule: claim only what you can back up cleanly.

One more thing that many people don’t realise is how much difference correct payroll capture makes. If your employer has the right details early, your year-end looks smoother. If they don’t, you might still fix it during ITR filing, but you’ll feel the cash flow pain now.

What Should Freelancers and Self-Employed Individuals Do Before FY End?

For freelancers, March is less about “proof submission” and more about “proof existence”.
You don’t need to build a complex accounting system overnight. But you do need your expenses to be claim-ready. That means separating personal and work spends as much as possible, keeping invoices for meaningful purchases, and tagging recurring costs like software subscriptions, internet, equipment, professional services, travel (where eligible), and anything that genuinely supports your work.

Then the more important part is to reconcile receipts with reality. Match invoices raised with payments received. Export statements from UPI/merchant accounts if you use them. The goal is to avoid that common freelancer moment in July where you’re staring at bank credits, wondering what half of them were for.

What Should You Reconcile to Avoid Notice-Like Surprises Later?

Before the year ends, reconcile what the system knows about you versus what you remember about yourself. Does your tax information trail match your actual income trail?

When you check your annual tax statements later, you don’t want to discover extra interest income you forgot, or transactions you didn’t track, or mismatches that look suspicious on paper even if they were innocent in life. If you catch inconsistencies early, you have time to correct records, collect missing documents, or add context to your own data.

This one habit is the difference between filing smoothly and filing nervously.

How Do You Use Deductions Without Panic-Buying in March?

If you’re in the old regime, deductions matter, but March isn’t the month to let deductions hijack your entire financial personality.

The right mindset is to use deductions to support decisions you already needed to make anyway. Not the other way around.

If you already need health insurance, paying that premium is not a “tax hack”, it’s financial hygiene, with a deduction benefit on top. If you already wanted a long-term investment style that fits your risk appetite, then yes, you can align it with deductions. But if you’re buying things you don’t understand just to fill a tax bucket, you’re not saving tax, you’re spending money with extra steps.

How Do You Avoid TDS Shock on Bank/FD Interest?

If you have multiple short term FDs, an RD, or a high interest savings account balance, interest can quietly add up. And when it crosses certain thresholds, banks may deduct TDS automatically. Sometimes the issue is simply that PAN isn’t updated properly. Sometimes it’s that the person didn’t anticipate the year’s interest total. And sometimes it’s that eligibility declarations weren’t submitted when they should’ve been.

Before March-end, do a quick interest estimate. It doesn’t have to be precise down to the rupee. It just needs to be honest enough to prevent a “why did the bank cut tax?” moment.

What Money Hygiene Should You Do Alongside Tax Planning?

Start with the basics. An emergency buffer that actually exists in a usable form. Not in a plan, not in a promise, not in a future bonus, something real.

Then look at high-interest debt. If you’re carrying credit card balances or consumer loans that bleed interest monthly, that’s your first leak. Closing leaks is often more powerful than chasing returns.

Finally, do the unglamorous but high-impact task. Update nominations across key accounts like bank, demat, mutual funds, insurance, EPF. People postpone it because nothing breaks immediately. But it’s one of the most responsible “adult finance” moves you can make.