Financial Calendar: Tax, EMI and Renewal Deadlines, Set Up Once a Year

GST filing (for business owners)

If you file quarterly, add the four quarterly deadlines as annual recurring events. If monthly, set them up as monthly recurring events. Even if a good CA handles the filing, your calendar should remind you to verify it happened; GST returns for beginners explains which form is which.

TDS returns (for those who deduct TDS: employers, property purchasers)

Investment and savings deadlines

• PPF annual contribution: must be credited before March 31 to count for that financial year. Add a reminder on March 15. Many people get this wrong: a contribution on April 1 misses the previous FY entirely.
• ELSS / 80C investments: if you invest a lump sum at year-end instead of through a SIP, add a February reminder to assess the remaining 80C gap.
• NPS additional contribution (80CCD(1B)): a ₹50,000 extra deduction is available. If you use it, add a March reminder.

Insurance renewals

Add your actual renewal dates, not generic ones. For each policy:

• Health insurance: the exact renewal date (from your policy document), with a 30-day and a 7-day reminder
• Term life insurance: the exact premium due date, with a 30-day reminder
• Vehicle insurance: the exact expiry date. This one matters most, because driving with lapsed vehicle insurance is both illegal and exposes you to complete financial loss in an accident. Add a 45-day, a 14-day and a 3-day reminder.

Name these events clearly, such as "[Insurer] Family Floater: Renewal Due", with the policy number in the event's description field.

EMI due dates

If your EMIs are on autopay, you do not strictly need calendar events; they run automatically. But visibility has value: knowing which dates large amounts leave your account helps you make sure salary has credited before the EMI runs, and helps you spot a failed EMI (your bank should notify you, but a calendar check catches it too). Add a monthly recurring event for each EMI, such as "Home Loan EMI: ₹42,000", on its due date.

SIP dates

Add SIP dates as monthly recurring events too, with the amount and fund in the title. When the reminder fires, check that the SIP ran: the debit from the bank, and the unit allocation confirmation.

FD maturities

For each FD, add an event on the maturity date with the bank, amount and deposit number in the description, plus a 30-day reminder. You need time to decide what to do with the money (renew, redeem, move it elsewhere), and banks auto-renew at their discretion if you don't instruct them.

Credit card statements

If credit card autopay is set to the full outstanding balance, you do not need a payment reminder. Add a monthly event 3 days before the statement generation date instead: that is when you check the statement online for suspicious transactions or billing errors, before the payment runs.

Other annual events

• Property tax: annual, paid to your local municipal corporation. The deadline varies by city: Mumbai March 31, Bengaluru April 30, Delhi March 31. Check your city and add it.
• Professional tax: paid by the employer in most cases, but add a check event if you are self-employed.
• Vehicle fitness certificate renewal: for vehicles over 15 years old.
• School and college fee due dates: if you have children, add these. They are often irregular and easy to miss.

If You Run a Business: The Dates I'd Add

A business adds a second layer of dates, and they are the ones that lean hardest on lead time. If I were setting up a Finance calendar for a small business like ours, these would go on it:

• The monthly stock statement, if the business has a cash credit limit. The bank recalculates drawing power from it, so it should be built from current books, not estimated at the last minute. A reminder a few days before the submission date gives time to check the figures.
• The renewal start date, not only the renewal date. Put an event 60–90 days before the facility's renewal, titled as the start of the work: close the latest figures, bring the stock and receivables statements up to date, and brief the CA for the renewal papers and any CMA data the bank asks for.
• The bookkeeping day. Give the accountant a fixed day each week. A standing slot on the calendar is what keeps bank reconciliation, the ledgers and the GST working records from sliding.
• GST, TDS and advance tax dates from the tables above, with a reminder set early enough to check the returns against actual sales and purchases, not merely to file them.
• A monthly receivables review. Much of a trading business's money sits with customers who have not paid yet. A fixed date each month to look at who owes what, and for how long, is the calendar version of chasing collections.

The pattern across all five is the same: the event marks when the work starts, and the deadline is only the backstop. The cash credit renewal guide covers what that renewal work involves.

Setting It Up in One Session

The setup session takes about 90 minutes if done properly. Do it in early April, at the start of the financial year.

Step 1: Open Google Calendar and create the Finance calendar as described above.

Step 2: Pull out the following documents:

• All insurance policy documents (for renewal dates)
• FD receipts (for maturity dates)
• Loan statements (for EMI dates)
• Last year's tax acknowledgement (to remind yourself of income and advance tax liability)

Step 3: Add all the fixed-date recurring events first (advance tax, ITR, PPF, GST if applicable). These don't require looking anything up.

Step 4: Add variable-date events using your actual document dates (insurance renewals, FD maturities, EMI dates, SIP dates).

Step 5: For each event with financial consequences, add a description field with the relevant details: policy number, account number, amount, what action to take when the reminder fires.

When a Reminder Fires

A reminder is only useful if it triggers an action. For each event type:

Advance tax reminder fires:

1. Open your tracker and estimate current-year income
2. Calculate the approximate tax liability
3. Check what you have already paid in previous instalments
4. Pay the balance through net banking (e-Pay Tax, challan 280)

Insurance renewal reminder fires (30 days out):

1. Get quotes from at least one insurance comparison site
2. Compare them with the renewal quote from your existing insurer
3. Decide whether to renew with the same insurer or port
4. If porting, start early, because portability requests need time

ITR reminder fires (30 days out):

1. Download Form 16 from your employer or get it from your CA
2. Download 26AS and AIS from the income tax portal
3. Verify that the Form 26AS entries match your employer's TDS deductions
4. Gather investment proofs, rent receipts and any other deduction documents
5. File the ITR, or hand everything to your CA

FD maturity reminder fires (30 days out):

1. Check the bank's maturity instruction option (auto-renew or credit to account)
2. Decide based on current needs: redeem and deploy elsewhere, or renew
3. If renewing, check current FD rates, at the same bank and at competitors
4. If you want the funds, log into net banking and set redemption instructions before the maturity date

A Weekly Glance

The calendar works best when you look at it during a short weekly check, the 15-minute weekly routine described in the personal finance operating system. Each week, look at what is coming up in the next 14 days and decide whether anything needs action now or the reminder will be enough.

This prevents the "the reminder fired but I was in a meeting" failure. You have already seen the event coming and had time to prepare.

The Whole Year at a Glance

Every standard annual date for Indian personal finance, ready to enter as annual recurring events:

April:

• April 1: New financial year begins. Reset 80C contributions. Set SIP step-ups. PPF contribution (ideally by April 5)
• April 15: Confirm Form 16 availability; follow up with the employer if not yet received

June:

• June 15: Advance Tax Q1 due (15% of annual estimated tax liability)
• June 15: Form 16 from employer typically available; download it if not already done

July:

• July 31: ITR filing deadline for individuals without business income
• July 31: TDS return Q1 filing deadline (for those who deduct TDS)

August:

• August 31: ITR filing deadline for business or professional income without an audit

September:

• September 15: Advance Tax Q2 due (45% cumulative)

October:

• October 31: TDS return Q2 filing deadline
• October 31: ITR deadline for businesses requiring audit

December:

• December 15: Advance Tax Q3 due (75% cumulative)
• December 31: Belated ITR filing deadline

January:

• January 15: Start preparing investment proofs for the employer's TDS declaration
• January 31: TDS return Q3 filing deadline

February:

• February 1: Union Budget announced; review any tax law changes affecting your planning
• February 15: Typical employer deadline for investment proof submission (verify your employer's date)

March:

• March 15: Advance Tax Q4 final instalment (100% of annual tax); any balance paid after this date attracts interest
• March 20–22: Finish LTCG harvesting (redeem and reinvest) within the ₹1.25 lakh annual exemption, leaving time for the reinvestment to settle before the year ends
• March 31: All FY investments must be completed (80C, PPF, NPS, ELSS)
• March 31: Last date to revise the previous year's ITR (with a fee if revised after December 31)

May (following year):

• May 31: TDS return Q4 filing deadline

For the run-up to March 31 in detail, see the year-end tax checklist.

A Description Template for Policies

For insurance renewals, fill each event's description with a template like this:

Event: [Insurer] Car Insurance Renewal
Date: [actual expiry date]
Reminders: 45 days, 14 days, 3 days

Description:
Policy Number: [policy number]
Vehicle: [model and registration number]
Premium last year: ₹8,200
IDV last year: ₹4,80,000
Add-ons: Zero Depreciation, Engine Protection
Action 45 days out: Get renewal quote + compare on a comparison site
Action 14 days out: Decide insurer and pay
Contact: [insurer's renewal helpline]

The description field is searchable in Google Calendar. When the 45-day reminder fires, everything you need to act is already in the event, and there is no hunting for the policy document. That is the whole point of the system: the calendar remembers the date, the description remembers the details, and you only have to do the work, starting when the reminder says to start.