Indian tax read through the statute and the rules rather than the headline: what changed, which regime it applies to, and what it is worth in rupees.
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The 15/26 divisor is written into the Code on Social Security, 2020. The ₹20 lakh ceiling is not, and still traces to a notification under the Act the Code repealed. The formula worked at real salaries, the rounding rule most calculators get wrong, and when gratuity can be forfeited.
Answers inside
The labour codes push basic pay to half of your salary, so PF and gratuity take a bigger slice. Worked numbers on why a 5% raise can leave you with less each month, the PF policy question that decides it, and what to get in writing before you accept.
Most notices are routine, but each has a clock: 30 days for a proposed adjustment, 15 for a defective return. How to check a notice is genuine, what to click, what an updated return costs, and why the old section numbers still apply to your return.
There is no limit on cash at home, but there is a 60% tax on cash you can’t explain. The deposit amounts banks now report, the ₹2 lakh cash-receipt rule that catches wedding gifts, and why a gift to your parents is treated differently from one to your spouse, all under the 2025 Act and 2026 Rules.
Five costs that chip away at your money without looking like costs at all: the forex markup stacked on your card’s exchange rate, what a “no-cost” EMI actually charges, the DCC trap at foreign ATMs, loan foreclosure penalties, and the commission structure that shapes what your insurance agent recommends.
Five completely different tax regimes for five kinds of side income: 44ADA for freelancers, FIRC and zero-rated GST for foreign clients, 30% flat for crypto with no loss set-off, and slab-rate F&O losses that can only offset certain gains. This guide covers each one from the statute, not from generalities.
Gold ETFs and gold funds are SEBI-regulated; SEBI says digital gold operates entirely outside its purview. How the three compare on cost, on the tax rules that changed in April 2025, and on your own amount.
The option window closed on 30 November 2025, but new recruits still choose within 30 days and UPS members can switch back to NPS once. Here is the comparison from PFRDA’s own formulas, worked through in rupees, including the 60% withdrawal that permanently shrinks the UPS payout.
Figures come from the organisation that published them — the regulator, the bank’s own rate card, the filing, the Act. Where a number could not be verified, the guide says so instead of estimating.
Worked examples are calculated, not illustrated, and every table states the assumptions behind it so you can redo the sum with your own numbers.
Each guide carries the date it was last checked rather than the date it first appeared, and corrections are published on the guide itself.
