CA K Sanjay BhargavChartered Accountant
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One-off advisory

Not every question needs a full engagement. Sometimes what is needed is not a return filed or a registration completed, but an answer — whether a decision is the right one, whether something you have been told is correct, or what a course of action will actually cost you. If that is where you are, write in with the details and you will get the format, the time required, and the fee confirmed before anything is booked.

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When a consultation is the right thing

The useful test is what you want to be holding at the end. If the answer is a completed filing, that is an engagement, and the service pages on this site cover it. If the answer is knowing what to do, that is a consultation.

Questions that come through this route tend to look like:

  • A decision with a timing element. Whether to exercise ESOPs this year or next; whether to sell before or after a change in residential status; whether a transaction is better structured one way or another. These have to be answered before the event, which is precisely when there is nothing yet to file.
  • A position you want tested. You have been told something — by another adviser, by a payroll team, by a forum — and you want to know whether it holds before you act on it.
  • A move, in or out of India. What to settle before leaving, what changes on arrival, and which of the things you have been told actually apply to your situation. Covered generally in NRI taxation, but the specifics are personal.
  • A one-off event that will not repeat. An inheritance, a property sale, a settlement, a foreign share vesting — where you need to understand the consequence once and then handle it yourself.
  • A second opinion. Including one that confirms what you were already told. That is a legitimate outcome and often the point.

What to send

The quality of the answer is set by what arrives with the question. Send as much of this as applies:

  • The question itself, in a sentence or two — and in particular, what decision you are trying to make
  • Your residential status for the year in question (resident, RNOR or non-resident), or say if you are not sure — it is frequently the thing that changes the answer
  • The year or years involved
  • A short background — a paragraph is usually enough
  • The documents, as PDFs: the notice, the return, the grant or vesting letter, the broker statement, the sale agreement, whatever the question turns on
  • Any deadline you are working to
  • Whether anyone else has already advised on it — it changes what is useful to say, and occasionally raises a conflict that is better identified before than after

Incomplete information is the main reason a consultation disappoints. It is better to send too much than to arrive at the call with the central document missing.

How it works

  1. You write in on WhatsApp with the question and the papers.
  2. It gets read. Not skimmed — read, because the next step depends on it.
  3. You get the shape of it back: whether a short conversation is enough, whether it needs a longer session with the documents reviewed in advance, or whether it is better answered in writing — along with the time required and the fee. Nothing is booked and nothing is charged at this point.
  4. If it suits you, it is booked and a time is agreed.
  5. You get the answer — in the session, and in writing afterwards where the format includes it.

If reading the question makes it clear that what you actually need is work done rather than an answer, you will be told that instead, and it will be quoted as an engagement.

What this is not

It is not how you get a notice read. If a notice has landed and you want to know what it says, how long you have and how serious it is, that is free and always has been — send it through tax notices and assessments rather than booking anything here. You are not expected to pay to find out what a letter means.

It is not representation. If there is a proceeding to be answered, a return to be filed or a registration to be obtained, that is an engagement — see tax notices and assessments or the relevant service page.

It is not investment advice. Questions about how an investment or a portfolio is taxed are in scope; what to buy, hold or sell is not, and is regulated separately. The distinction is set out on capital gains and portfolio taxation.

And it is not a substitute for the free material on this site. If your question is already answered in the written guides, read those first — several hundred pages of them are there precisely so that the straightforward questions do not need a consultation at all.

Frequently asked questions

What does a consultation cost?

It depends on the question and how much material there is to read, so it is quoted per enquiry rather than published. Send the details and you get the format, the time required and the fee before anything is booked — there is no obligation at that point, and nothing is charged until you confirm.

How is this different from your other services?

The other pages on this site are for work that gets done for you — a return filed, a notice replied to, a registration completed. This is for when you do not need work done, you need an answer: whether to do something, whether something you have been told is right, or what the consequences of a decision would be. If it turns out the answer is that work needs doing, that is quoted as an engagement instead.

What if my question turns out to need actual filing work?

Then it is handled as an ordinary engagement and quoted that way, and the consultation fee is credited against it. You are not charged twice for the same matter. This happens reasonably often — a question about whether a position is defensible sometimes ends with the position needing to be filed or corrected.

Do I have to send documents before booking?

Yes, and it is in your interest. A consultation booked without the papers becomes a session spent reading rather than answering. Sending the return, the notice, the grant letter or the statement in advance is what makes the time useful — and it is also what allows the scope and fee to be confirmed accurately rather than estimated.

Can I get a written answer instead of a call?

Yes. Where the question is one you need to record, act on later, or show to someone else — a bank, a board, a counterparty, another adviser — a written note is usually more useful than a conversation. Say so when you write in and it will be quoted that way.

Is this available if I am outside India?

Yes. Consultations are held online, and a significant share of the questions that come through this route are cross-border ones — residential status, foreign assets, repatriation, or what to settle before a move. Time zones are worked around when the slot is agreed.

Will you give a second opinion on advice I have already received?

Yes, and it is a common reason people write in. It works best when you send what you were told along with the underlying facts, so the question becomes whether the reasoning holds rather than a guess at what was meant. Where the earlier advice turns out to be right, that is the answer you get.

Have a specific question?

Write in with the details and whatever papers are relevant. You get the format, the time required and the fee confirmed before anything is booked.

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