Earning on the side?
What your side hustle really pays
- The tax it adds on top of your salary
- What you keep per hour
- The way of filing that costs least
- Invested till 2036
- ₹67.3 L
- after tax, at 12%
- You keep₹3.7 L77%
- Expenses₹60,00013%
- Tax₹49,92010%
Every ₹100 you earn on the side
- You keep₹77
- Expenses₹13
- Tax₹10
An hour of your time
- Day job45 hrs a week₹705
- Side hustle10 hrs a week₹712
After tax, over 52 weeks. The day job counts salary after its own tax.
Your inputs
Switch on to see what future amounts will buy at today's prices.
Keep your inputs as a file; it never leaves your device.
What this means
- Side income is taxed at your top rate, 21%, because it sits on top of your salary.
Why?
Your salary already fills the lower slabs. Every rupee of side profit lands in the slab your salary stops at, or above.
- Pay ₹49.9K as advance tax by 15 March, in one go under the presumptive scheme.
Why?
Your employer's TDS only covers salary. Once tax not covered by TDS reaches ₹10,000 in a year, paying late adds 1% a month interest (Sections 234B and 234C). Or ask your employer to deduct more TDS.
- Each side-hustle hour earns you ₹712 after tax, more than an hour at your day job (₹705).
Why?
A raise or promotion at work can be worth more than extra hours on the side. Or put your rate up.
More details
What it grows to if invested
In 2036 you'd keep ₹67.3 L after ₹4.36 L of tax on selling, from ₹37.01 L put in. Assumes the side income stays at today's level.
Which way to file?
Presumptive returns are filed on ITR-4 while total income stays under ₹50 lakh; otherwise ITR-3. Expenses still leave your pocket under a presumptive scheme, they're just not claimed.
How it's calculated
Side income is added to your salary and taxed at slab rates. The tax it adds is the tax on salary plus side profit, minus the tax on salary alone, so it lands in your top slab.
- 44ADA: professionals (IT, design, consulting and other listed professions) declare 50% of receipts as profit, up to ₹75 lakh of receipts.
- 44AD: businesses declare 6% of digital receipts as profit, up to ₹3 crore.
- Actual profit: receipts minus real expenses, with books of accounts. A loss can't be set off against salary.
- You keep receipts minus expenses minus the extra tax. Per hour counts 52 weeks.
Your day job's tax uses the standard deduction (₹75,000 new, ₹50,000 old) and, in the old regime, the deductions you enter. 4% cess is included. GST is not counted.
Tax figures follow Budget 2025 rules, for FY 2025-26 onward.