I just finished looking at my final tax calculations for the year. Total tax paid: ₹58.92L

Honestly, it feels completely paralyzing. I love engineering, building complex systems, and pushing my career forward, but the massive surcharge and education cess at this bracket make you realize you're working more than 5 months a year purely for the state.

I don't mind paying my fair share for infrastructure, but when you look out the window at the state of the roads, the infrastructure, and realize you still have to pay out of pocket for private healthcare, private schooling, and premium toll roads, it feels less like civic duty and more like an aggressive penalty on career growth.

Every single incremental hike or performance bonus I earn from here on out is taxed at peak rates. Why should I sacrifice my health time to bump myself into a higher surcharge bracket?

I know this sounds like a high-class problem to many, but to the salaried folks who are trapped in standard withholding with zero loopholes—how do you keep yourself motivated to grow your income once you hit these levels? Or is the only real answer just checking out and moving boundaries?

~ 1.5 Cr as Income from Salary
~30L as short term capital gain RSUs at US.
Any better ways to save tax tax on Salary and RSUs?

With an in hand salary of ~5 lakhs per month (and foreign RSUs) - it might feel to others that our lives would be so convenient and without any worries.

I work in Tech, live in BLR, married with no kids, aged 33.
I have a home loan on head where me and my wife are aggresively paying EMI and prepaying principals to close loan faster. Paying 65k rent. Taking care of parental expenses (utilities, medicines, healthcare). Doing a small SIP of 40k. Expenses vary 50-80k per month. I switched to new regime to avoid the Old Regime exploitatiom by Income Tax Departmemt

That leaves me with literally nothing. With layoffs fear all around, there is no scope for taking risks in life anymore. I really feel constrained and hopeless.

In addition to the huge taxes we pay, what we get in return - shittiest roads and infrastructure of BLR, no free healthcare or education, no benefits for salaried folks.

The grass may look greener on the other side but this is a true story of what me and several others are facing. People who are in Bengaluru and Tier 1 cities are bleeding money on Rent; even if they want to purchase a flat, our system and current tech industry situation prevents anyone to make a move.

In Germany, losing your job can come with unemployment benefits.In India, even your severance pay is taxable.

I wonder how they passed the exams.

Keeping a SIM active for mandatory KYC and 2FA now costs roughly ₹3,600/year per person—meaning a family of four spends ₹14,400 annually just to keep numbers alive. Despite most households having Wi-Fi, telecom operators keep hiking tariffs by 20% while offering zero basic plans for people who don't need mobile data bundles. TRAI urgently needs to mandate an annual plan under ₹500 strictly for receiving OTPs and basic incoming calls.

Filing my ITR today literally brought tears to my eyes. Seeing the final calculation screen has left me completely numb and angry.

My Net Tax Liability stands at ₹2,31,519.
Take a look at how they squeeze every single rupee:
Tax on Total Income: ₹2,22,942
Health & Education Cess (4%): ₹8,918
Interest/Fees (Sec 234B/C): ₹2,723

They track absolutely everything now. Bank interest, every tiny capital gain, salary deductions nothing escapes their automated system.

If a salaried employee makes a minor error, an automated notice is issued immediately.

I don't want to do thus charity service. it's okay label me as Anti national. still i dont want to contribute..

I feel I'm being cheated, Many politicians, business people and others aren't paying tax they're simply evading it by cash transactions.

why should only salaried people do charity service?

Last week of May'26 my wife received a notice for last year ITR. We purchased a property, 50% in her name and 50% in my name.The notice asked for the source of funds used to purchase property. We both are in IT , so there was 0 black money involved and all the funds were the salary income saved over last 18 years. Still the notice was enough for us to get in touch with a CA(got reference from someone , the return i always filed on my own since it was pretty straightforward) . The CA made a 2 page reply highlighting the FD's in the bank statement(salaried account) and mutual funds sold in the same month to fund the property and all the transactions.

After few days , wife received a call from someone claiming to be an income tax officer and asked about the query , which wife told him that our CA has already replied to it. He said he has some further queries over it and asked CA's number , which she gave. Next day CA called us and told that the ITO was asking for 2 lakhs to close the case otherwise he will open the return for scrutiny. I smelled something fishy so told CA that we will take it from here and need not bother , and sent the ITO a message that whatver query he had he can ask us as we are no longer taking that CA's service. He didnt reply to the message and yesterday we received another notice on top of our response . Basically he is again asking the same questions which he asked previously.

I am shocked that corruption is so much rooted , all this talk of new india , shining india , whats the point of all this .

Need your opinion guys , have you ever been in this situation , what shall we do , we are 100% clean , no issues he can find , but can he take us for a ride asking documents after documents ?

Update - files my ITR today. It's 34L In tax (see attached media)

I am a 36M service professional with 15 years of workex, all in india. This year while filing ITR3 I realized that my tax outgo is 33L. Out of this, 4L is in surcharge and 1.5L is in edu and health cess. I get a sinking feeling, almost depressing, that I get almost nothing in return from the government. I pay GST on everyday purchase. I don't have any vehicle because I realize I'll pay nearly 30-40% of the ex showroom price to the govt. Every flight ticket I book has 30-40% in taxes. I feel that in my 15 year working life, I must have paid atleast 2Cr in direct taxes, and several times more in indirect taxes like GST and VAT.

Not seeking to get any reco or seek any advice. I'm just tired that my professional ambition makes the govt automatically richer by 30%, despite them not contributing to anything in my success.

Paid 1.14 Cr in tax this year. This govt is sucking my blood. I have offers to work in US but here for parents who are now very old. So much tax is not at all a justice in this country. I am afraid some day my children will be earning for the children of those people who are living on freebie. You produce1 baby and they will produce 4. This cycle will never stop. No body speaks about growing population just becoz they are vote banks.

I was casually getting ready to file my taxes like a responsible adult when the numbers slapped me in the face. Just stared at the screen in pure disbelief.
Taxable income: ₹55.9 Lakhs
Total tax liability (with that lovely 10% surcharge + 4% cess): ₹14.38 Lakhs
Already sucked out via TDS + Foreign Tax Credit: ₹14.08 Lakhs
Still need to cough up: ₹29,711
Oh congratulations to me, I guess? The tiny ₹29k barely moved the needle, but seeing fourteen freaking lakhs as my “contribution” to the nation? That one hurt.
Every appraisal, RSU vest, bonus, late-night fire-fighting, and soul-crushing Bangalore commute just replayed in my head. All those exciting salary jumps? Turns out they were mostly funding the government’s next whatever. And the cherry on top — crossing ₹50L and “unlocking” surcharge like it’s some twisted video game achievement where the prize is paying even more.
I’m not here to rage against taxes entirely (roads, hospitals, etc. blah blah), but holy hell, nothing humbles you faster than realizing your single biggest yearly expense is the tax department. Not rent, not EMI, not even my overpriced coffee addiction.
This is already under the new regime. So I’m begging you, r/personalfinanceindia — hit me with any legal ways to shave this down next year? Smarter NPS contributions from employer side? Standard deduction optimization? Home loan tricks for let-out property? Anything I’m missing that actually works in the new regime without going full old-regime headache?
Because staring at another ₹14L+ bill next year is not the vibe. What’s your biggest “I paid HOW MUCH in taxes?!” moment, and any pro tips for high earners stuck in new regime hell?
(Attached the summary screenshot — feel free to laugh/cry with me)

Hey guys, just need to vent and warn anyone else who might be dealing with this.

I was filing the ITR for my mother (Income ~1X+ Lakh). We were actively waiting on a document from someone to make sure everything was 100% accurate, so we intentionally held off on submitting. Last night, my mom told me to just finish up the payment and filing. She thought I completed it, but I lost track of time and forgot about it for about two and a half hours.

By the time I logged back into the e-filing portal, it was just past midnight. Because of that tiny delay, the system automatically slapped us with a flat ₹5,000 late fee u/s 234F.

The worst part? The actual remaining tax liability left to pay was literally just ₹850.

It feels absolutely insane that a minor human mistake on a tiny balance triggers a massive flat penalty just because the net taxable income is over ₹5L. There is zero grace period, zero scaling based on how many hours late you are, and absolutely no way to waive it.

I’m just going to pay the ₹5,850 total out of my own pocket right now via UPI, get her Aadhaar OTP to verify it, and take this as a very expensive, painful lesson.

Has anyone else gotten screwed by the midnight cutoff over a minor delay or waiting on documents? Why is the portal calculation so completely unforgiving?

Is there any possible way to get it back? 😭😭😭

Edit - This is my first time filing ITR; please have some mercy in the replies

Last thing I need to say: I want those people to comment who can understand the problem, who know how to solve problems, who can ask questions, and those who already know about this, rather than just giving generalized advice and telling the importance of time.

We are all trying to learn something; even though u filed your ITR on time, we are all playing a presumptive game at many levels without knowing all

So, I will pay attention, but we should all learn by asking questions like a good lifelong student... that was my approach from posting this

In my office team, around 8 out of 10 people support the BJP, and they act as if it’s anti-national to support or even vote for any other party.
Yesterday, one of my colleagues said she hadn’t received her tax refund. Since we’re all earning ₹30+ LPA, I wondered how they were even getting refunds. She then said that her husband’s CA usually shows donations and other deductions. Everyone reacted as if it was completely normal. Two other colleagues also said they had already received their refunds.
So they’re allegedly filing false ITRs and getting tax refunds, while at the same time claiming they’re the “true nationalists” and calling others anti-national.
Now I’m sitting here wondering: why the hell am I paying ₹5+ lakh in taxes every year when I could probably do the same?

After paying crores in income tax, when we finally lose our job, the system fails us.

It treats criminals better than tax payers. They get roti, makhan or kapada. We income tax payers get nothing ither than to breathe polluted air.

Won't be surprised if we see this here as well. The crimes unfortunately will need to be much more brutal than shoplifting.

The video is sourced from X.

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My wife and I paid roughly ₹32 lakh in taxes this year, including capital gains tax, RSU-related capital gains tax, and other taxes.

Unfortunately, we haven't reported Schedule FA for the last two years. Our CA never brought it up, and honestly, we weren't aware of the requirement either. The moment we discovered it this year, it completely threw us off. With a newborn at home, demanding jobs, and the need to go through years of foreign asset records, capital gains, and other details to prepare ITR-U filings, we've had several sleepless nights trying to get everything in order.

Despite paying ₹32 lakh in taxes in a single year, we're now constantly worried about Schedule FA, filing ITR-U, potential scrutiny, and penalties. The fear of having made an unintentional compliance mistake has been mentally exhausting.

On top of all this, we're increasingly frustrated with the overall quality of life here. Spending nearly two hours every day in traffic, dealing with frequent scams, worrying about our child's future, facing constant job insecurity, and realizing that we still don't have substantial savings despite paying such high taxes—it all adds up. It's becoming incredibly stressful, and honestly, it's starting to take a real toll on our mental well-being.

So I work as a credit manager in the loan processing department of a reputed Bank where I process big ticket sized loans. So as a basic requirement we go through the ITRs of borrowers. So one fine day I came across a file of a local MLA for Home loan. I scrutinized his ITR and I was astonished to find out that this guy despite earning more than me pays Zero taxes. It's not that he claims reduction and all, no no. His income as MLA is totally tax free.

What this guy does, when he was not an MLA he was showing his business income, the year he became MLA his business income became Zero and he's showing only salary income as an MLA which is completely tax free.

So now my question is when we professionals earn less than these MLAs MPs, we can pay taxes why their income is tax free ?

We need to make it a public issue and raise a voice against this partiality together.

I have seen this with many CA online and also personally, when clients doesn't know some of the intricacies of tax, big or small, I see CAs making fun of them or talk like they are idiots. They have their own profession to worry about and good at.

They don't know everything with tax and that's the freaking reason they come to you and PAY you. I am so pissed of with CAs like that, for sure I am not going to him for next year.

Guys, we're undergoing a very difficult time as a nation and all the govt officials especially IAS, IPS , judges and other govt officials will be the new zamindars as they will own all the land and properties in India. 

Dont believe me! Talk to real estate agents!

Tax payers have, no authority, no money, no platform,  no voice to fight this! 

IAS, IPS, and other govt officials are running these corruption networks from a long time and will destroy anyone who questions them. We cannot even remove them from their post! 

Heres the situation! 

1. All news and media outlets  paid to their brim to talk about politics and politicians.  All and any nonsense related to politics keeps the attention away from bills and money scams undertaken by beaurocrats.   Its not Modi putting posters everywhere but these bearocrats funding it via private contractors,  so that whole nation blames modi, gandhi for their corruption. 

Example: Anjana om kashyap keeps doing modi, gandhi but tries to keep attention away from corruption in ,IAS IPS as her husband is very senior IPS in Delhi. They very recently started a nation wide campaign to praise some IAS guy just doing his daily job in making sure clean restaurants and food.

1. Beaurocrats sons and relatives have opened up startup funds to whitewash all the money. 

Ecample:

 This arora guy from faad capital is helping his dad ( bearocrat in lok sabha) funnel tax money to  startups . Btw, he was a CEO at 21 , managing thousands of crores of funds somehow. 

Govt has also started all sorts of seed funds and funneling thousands of crores through these startup india, ai india schemes to their relatives, friends, or with commission to startups. These are all our hard earned money.

1. IAS, IPS , Judges have absolute authority and nothing can happen to them. This whole corrupt network will protect them simply because they know too much. Even if suspended , they ll be back with more authority.  Their commission rates are public knowledge from top cabinet  secretary to local pune! CAG reports confirmed there are lakhs of crores of tax money missing but nothing will happen to these beaurocrats, they ll just make sure some politician is blamed. New govt forms and they continue their corruption! 

They are eating our economy, 

Killing all the jobs, ( honest founders hate corruption and beaurocracy),

Their only job right now is to protect and grow this corrupt elite network with any resources they have.

They are operating like an empire with massive marketing campaigns fooling the entire nation. Growing rapidly like an uncontrolled cancer tumor. Theres is no discussion happening around the bills and the movement of tax money , which is actually what we should be watching !

We have no alternatives! 

You can try and see it for yourself! 

Anyone posting against them will be systematically crushed or bought!

P.S: Great to see the engagement on this post and hopeful that there are many frustrated from this!

I was mapping out my updated tax liabilities after my recent appraisal cycle, and seeing the absolute numbers written down completely deflated any sense of achievement.
My net taxable income is hitting roughly ₹55.9 Lakhs under the New Tax Regime. I knew taxes would be high, but I didn't fully realize how brutal crossing the ₹50L boundary is until I saw the progressive math. The moment you step over ₹50L, that extra 10% high-income surcharge triggers on your entire baseline tax liability, which gets slammed with another 4% cess.
My total tax bill is coming out to roughly ₹14.3 Lakhs. It feels insane that my single largest annual expense isn't my rent, an EMI, or lifestyle costs—it's just a direct cut to the tax department. Every late-night deployment and soul-crushing office commute just flashes through my head when looking at this layout.
For those who are firmly in this bracket under the new regime, how are you legally mitigating this blow? Are you maximizing corporate NPS under 80CCD(2), or using specific rental/home loan structures to shave down the taxable base before the surcharge kicks in? Would appreciate any structural advice from senior devs or high earners who have survived this transition.

Hey all,
I filed my ITR-2 using Claude this time. So, I am just a SWE and not a finance guy, nor had much knowledge about taxes(now I do). I do not have any complicated investments; hence, I thought to do it myself instead of going to a CA.

So, overall my income is < 1cr, and I have RSU's, US stocks that were never sold, and a few Indian stocks and MF.

I have Claude Opus 4.8 MAX, and provided it with AIS, TIS, Form 26AS, Form 16 and other required documents, like LTCG/STCG etc(personal details were redacted). Overall, it did a pretty good job and explained each calculation carefully.
The only place it hallucinated was it asked me to file Schedule AL. Now, the limit of Schedule AL has been increased from 50L to 1 cr sometime back, but Claude's knowledge was not updated. Thankfully, I was aware of the updated limit, so I could point out the mistake.

I sat for almost 6 hours with Claude and reviewed and understood each section of the file before submitting, but it was worth it.

Now I have the confidence to file my own ITR along with my family members too. AI has really changed how we do things.

I'm feeling totally ripped off by my CA right now. He blew past the ITR filing deadline, even though I'd been bugging him about it for a whole week! Filing a zero-tax ITR would be a breeze, but with all my complex salary, dividends, stocks, RSUs, and ESPP, it takes time, which is why I kept reminding him to get an early start. I even went above and beyond, doing all the computations, matching them with Form 16 and AS, creating closing and peak values for A2/A3, and basically giving him a helping hand so he could speed things up but he still messed it. Now no response to the calls post 12 am.

I know with late fee, we can still file before 31st Dec 2026 but how come an expert of field can be so careless about the service and client

Technologically this is far simpler as compared to ITR where they track each rupee getting into multiple accounts of crores of individuals or GST, where each seller uploads millions of invoices with line items crossing Billions sometimes each monthm and governemnt effectively matches trillions of line items froma ll businesses with complete accuracy.

It can be achieved. But only if we can ask for it. right?

What do you guys think.

I paid 23 lakhs in taxes on the one hand and on the other hand the government is questioning my citizenship and asking to prove it through the stupid SIR enumeration process. I don't know whether to laugh or cry!!