Soon, pay taxes through credit cards, UPI, and mobile wallets

Individuals will soon be able to pay their income tax through credit cards, Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and mobile wallets, reports Business Standard.

At present, only netbanking and debit cards of six banks -- Canara Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Indian Bank, Punjab National Bank (PNB) and State Bank of India (SBI) -- are accepted as modes for payment of income tax.

Revenue Secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey confirmed to the daily that UPI might soon be allowed for payment of taxes. “We are working on this. Today you can pay only through netbanking and debit cards. We would definitely like to use UPI. This may be allowed as soon as possible,” Bhushan said.

Another official told the publication that the intention is to provide more electronic payment options for paying tax. "For small payments, it might be more convenient for taxpayers to use mobile wallets. We are going to define ‘electronic payments’, which could be a wallet, credit card or UPI,” the official added.

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which runs the UPI, launched the service three years ago. UPI is becoming an increasingly popular payment method in India, recording over one billion transactions in October. Payment service providers such as Google Pay, Paytm, PhonePe and Amazon Pay have enabled UPI transactions on their platforms.