As you are aware that Financial year 2018-19 is about to end, below are some of the points that shall be kept in mind prior to 31st March 2019:
1. Accounting related:
a) All Bank Accounts should be reconciled with bank statement.
b) Depreciation to be charged in books of accounts as per Companies Act 2013 / Income Tax Act 1961, as applicable.
c) Analysis of long outstanding debtors, that shall be written off as ‘Bad Debts’.
d) Provisions shall be made for all expenses for m/o March’ 2019, such as Telephone Expenses, Rental Expenses, Electricity Expenses, etc.
e) In case of any Fixed Deposits, etc, interest income should be booked for the year on accrual basis, Interest Certificate shall also be obtained from Bank.
f) All Long outstanding payables / receivables shall be cleared to the maximum extent.
g) In case of Unsecured Loans, interest should be booked on accrual basis for the year.
h) All services rendered / sales done to be recorded in books of accounts and reported in GST Returns accordingly.
i) All expenses pertaining the year should be accounted for in books.
j) Cash in hand balance in books as on 31.03.2019, should be an appropriate amount. Any excess cash should be deposited in Bank account.
k) Physically verify and value inventories/stock as on 31st March 2019, for valuing in bo
k) Any other income / expenses/ other transaction pertaining to the year should be accounted in books.
l) Physical Verification of cash to be done by management as on 31.03.2019
m) Ledger scrutiny of all ledger (specially sundry debtors & sundry creditors) should be done thoroughly.
n) Foreign debtors & Foreign creditors, should be re-valued at exchange rates at 31st March 2019
2. Reconciliations / Third party confirmations
a) Prepare GST Reconciliations – between GSTR 1, GSTR 3B and books of accounts & ITC availed in GSTR 3B, accounted in books of accounts and reflecting in GSTR 2A
b) Confirmations to be obtained from respective debtors / creditors / parties to whom loans given / taken , for outstanding balance, so that accounts can be reconciled.
c) TDS Receivable should be reconciled with Form 26AS, and Form 16A shall be obtained from respective persons for all quarters.
d) Prepare TDS payable reconciliations between books of accounts and Form 26Q/24Q/27Q and make relevant revisions , if required.
3. Goods & Services Tax (GST)
a) Pending GST liabilities to be taken care of.
b) GST Dept also has given last chance to rectify mistakes relating to GST Returns of FY 2017-18 & ITC for that year, till 31st March 2019. Hence, same should also be taken care of while filing GST Returns of March’ 2019
c) Reconcile the Cash ledger, Credit Ledger and Liability ledger on GSTN Portal with books of accounts.
d) All the entries should be done before the year-end relating to Debit notes, credit notes, rate difference, discount, etc should be reconciled.
4. Tax Deducted at Source (TDS)
a) TDS deduction on Salaried employees to be considered before crediting salary for month of March’ 2019
b) Analyse expense on which TDS has not been deducted, and deduct & deposit TDS thereon, with interest.
5. Advance Tax
a) 100% of Advance Tax for the year is to be paid till 15th March 2019, as reduced by amount of advance tax paid in earlier instalments
b) If in case you have not paid any Advance tax during whole financial year, you are advised to pay atleast 90% of your advance tax liability, latest by 31st March 2019, in order to avoid Interest for default in payment of Advance tax u/s 234B of Income Tax Act 1961. Kindly note that Interest for deferment of Advance tax u/s 234C of Income tax Act 1961, shall continue to be levied.
6. Miscellaneous
a) Individuals are advised to make investments under LIC , Fixed deposits, Mediclaim, etc, if they want to claim deductions under Section 80C / 80D / etc
b) Salaried Individuals are advised to submit all investments proofs (Housing loan certificates , Mediclaim and LIC receipts, house rental receipts for claiming HRA, proofs of any other investments done, etc) to their employers, so that TDS can be deducted accordingly.
(Author can be reached at simrankatyal96@gmail.com)
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Good article thank you