Advance Tax Paid Under the Wrong Assessment Year

Reviewed on: 2026-06-12.

Direct answer: You can correct the assessment year on a paid challan yourself. Log in to incometax.gov.in, open Dashboard, then Services, then Challan Correction, pick the wrong challan and change the assessment year. The portal accepts corrections for challans of AY 2020-21 onwards, and each field can normally be corrected only once. If the online route does not accept your challan, write to your jurisdictional Assessing Officer, who can correct challan data under the OLTAS challan correction mechanism. Your money is not lost. It is sitting against the wrong year and must be moved.

Advance tax is paid for the financial year that is running, but the challan asks for the assessment year, which is the next year. Tax for FY 2025-26 goes under AY 2026-27. Many people select the year they are living in, not the year ahead. The payment then shows in Form 26AS and AIS of the wrong year, and the correct year shows a shortfall. The portal may compute interest under Sections 234B and 234C for the correct year until the challan is moved.

The usual process is:

1. Log in to incometax.gov.in with your PAN.
2. Go to Dashboard, Services, Challan Correction and choose Create Challan Correction Request.
3. Select what you want to change. The service covers the assessment year, the major head (for example 0021, income tax other than companies) and the minor head (for example 100 advance tax or 300 self-assessment tax).
4. Pick the challan using its CIN details: BSR code, date of deposit and challan serial number.
5. Enter the correct assessment year and submit.
6. E-verify with Aadhaar OTP, DSC or net banking. Track the request under the same Challan Correction tab.

Two conditions matter. The challan should not already be claimed in an ITR that the CPC has processed. And each attribute is normally correctable once, so enter the new year carefully.

If the portal rejects the request, or the challan is older than AY 2020-21, write to your jurisdictional Assessing Officer. You can find the officer under My Profile, Jurisdiction Details after logging in. The OLTAS challan correction rules let banks fix an assessment year only within seven days of deposit for over-the-counter challans, so for most online payments the AO is the practical fallback. Attach the challan copy, your computation showing why the payment belongs to the other year, and your bank debit proof.

Meera, a freelance designer in Jaipur, paid Rs 90,000 advance tax on 15 December 2025 for FY 2025-26. The correct assessment year was 2026-27, but she selected 2025-26. In March 2026 her AIS for AY 2026-27 showed no credit. She logged in, raised a Challan Correction request quoting BSR code 0510308, deposit date 15-12-2025 and serial number 04719, changed the year to 2026-27, and verified with Aadhaar OTP. The request showed as corrected in nine days, and her Form 26AS for AY 2026-27 picked up the Rs 90,000 before she filed her return in July.

Use this only if the online route fails. Submit it at the ASK counter of your income tax office or upload it with a grievance on the portal, and keep the stamped copy.

To,
The Assessing Officer, Ward [number], [City]

Subject: Request for correction of assessment year in advance tax challan, PAN [your PAN]

Respected Sir/Madam,

I paid advance tax of Rs [amount] on [date] through [bank]. By mistake the challan
was deposited under AY [wrong year] instead of AY [correct year].

Challan details: BSR code [.....], date of deposit [.....], challan serial number [.....],
CIN [.....].

The online Challan Correction request on the e-filing portal could not be processed
because [reason]. I request you to correct the assessment year to AY [correct year]
under the OLTAS challan correction mechanism so that the credit reflects in my
Form 26AS for the correct year.

Enclosed: challan copy, bank statement extract, computation of advance tax.

Yours faithfully,
[Name, PAN, address, mobile, email, date]

• Paying again under the correct year “to be safe”. You then have to chase a refund of the first payment. Correct the challan instead.
• Filing the ITR claiming the credit without correcting the challan. The CPC matches challans by assessment year. You may receive a Section 143(1) demand and have to file a rectification.
• Waiting until the filing deadline. Corrections take days to weeks to reflect. Start as soon as you notice the error in your e-Pay Tax history or AIS.
• Confusing minor heads. Advance tax is minor head 100. Self-assessment tax is 300. A wrong minor head is corrected by the same online service.

The Income Tax Department is a public authority. If your written correction request to the AO gets no reply for over a month, you can file an RTI application on rtionline.gov.in asking for the status of your application, the officer holding it and the reasons recorded for the delay. See how to file RTI online and, if the reply is evasive, first and second appeals. RTI gets you the file status. The correction itself still happens through the portal or the AO.

The portal service covers challans of AY 2020-21 onwards. There is no short day-count window like the old bank route, but the challan must not already be consumed in a processed return, so act before you file.

Only for physical counter challans, and only within seven days of deposit under the OLTAS rules. Online e-Pay Tax challans are corrected on the portal or by the AO.

Until the challan moves, the system treats the correct year as short-paid and may compute interest under Sections 234B and 234C. Once the correction is processed with the original payment date, the credit applies from that date. Check the computation in any intimation you receive.

The online service will refuse the request. Write to the AO explaining that the credit was not actually due in that year, and seek rectification for both years. Professional help is worth it here.

Check the Challan Correction status tab, then your e-Pay Tax payment history, then Form 26AS and AIS for the correct year. Allow a week or two for downstream statements to refresh.

No. AIS feedback flags wrong third-party data. A wrong challan year is fixed by challan correction, not feedback. For genuine AIS data errors, see fixing AIS and Form 26AS mismatches.

• AIS or Form 26AS mismatch: property sale, FD interest, salary TDS
• AIS shows rent received but you are not a landlord
• All practical guides

Download the advance tax challan correction checklist (PDF).