Showing posts with label tax saving. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tax saving. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Transfer and invest funds legally

Many persons who have not filed returns are getting intimations from Income Tax department. The main reason is to identify and find out if the amount invested by that person has escaped tax. Many of them transfer money to senior citizens to gain the extra percentage in bank fixed deposits. Why do all that and put the senior citizen through all the pain and pressure in their old age because of income tax intimations, when there are easier ways to save tax and better ways to increase your tax free income. Here are some options
  • Whenever you transfer amounts to your relatives invest in tax free investments, first benefit is amounts transferred to relatives is free of gift tax and the second would be that since it is invested in tax free investments the income would be tax free. The income received can be reinvested anywhere after that and would not be clubbed with the income of the person giving gift.
  • You can invest in your minor child’s name for tax free income up to Rs.1,500/- per child (max 2 children), so taxable income generated in minor child’s name is tax free to the extend of Rs. 1,500/- per child. Also once the child becomes an adult, the income generated would not be clubbed with your income.
  • Invest your money in equity, either in the form of direct shares or units of Equity Mutual Funds, any investment kept for more than a year is free of capital gains tax. Any dividend received is also tax free.
  • In case you are investing in your parents name ensure that the income generated does not exceed the taxable income slab.
Just do the above and become tension free, your family will also be happy.

Monday, March 9, 2015

Are we saving tax and making money?

Last year the government had increased the deduction under section 80C to Rs. 1,50,000/-. This year there has been no change, but an addition has been made in section 80CCD for investments in NPS. Let us look at our options with the changed scenario.

ELSS Funds – By far this is the most rewarding of all investment options. With a lock-in period of just three years and tax free returns with regards to both dividend and capital gains. To get the best returns, invest using the SIP option.
ULIPS – With management charges reduced, this is also a good option, which is given by ELSS funds as well. There are a bit expensive as compared to ELSS with regards to charges. The lock-in period is longer, you need to stay locked-in for minimum of 15 years and premium would need to be paid for 15 years. Don’t go by what the Insurance advisor would say, as you would benefit only if you keep paying the premium for the full term. Another advantage is there are free shifts allowed from debt to equity and vice versa, check the number of free shifts allowed.

PPF – Though the interest rate is 8.7%, this would be changed on a regular basis by the government depending on the interest rate scenario, which is likely to come down. You need to put in a minimum of Rs.500/- per year and there is a lock-in of 15 years.
Sr. Citizens Saving scheme – Interest rate is 9.2%, is ideal for people above 60 years with a lock-in of 5 years. Interest is paid quarterly which is taxable.

NPS – A good option for those looking to gain from the additional Rs.50,000 investment option, in addition to section 80C. The amount would be locked-in till retirement and then you would start getting pension from then. Pension would be taxable. The maximum deduction is limited to 10% of your salary for own contribution, but there is no limit on employers contribution. This is only for Tier I accounts.
Bank FD – Should be invested for 5 years, interest is taxable.

NSC - There are 2 types available 5 years and 10 years. Any investment is eligible for deduction. Interest amount received is taxable and also can be claimed under section 80C as investment, as interest is treated as reinvested.
Pension Plans – These are issued by insurance companies, at the end of the period, you have to buy an annuity, which would be taxable on receipt.

Insurance plans - Any premium paid for insuring your own life or that of your child or spouse is allowed as deduction. You have to ensure that the premium paid does not exceed 10% of the assured amount.
In addition to the above there is a deduction available for Principal repayment of Home Loan and Tuition fees.

If you have a housing loan, interest paid on housing loan to the extend of Rs. 2,50,000/- is allowed as deduction, under income from house property for self-occupied property.
Premium for health insurance is has been increased to Rs. 25,000under section 80D for self and family and Rs. 30,000/- for Sr. Citizens.

Make use of the options given to you and save tax. Tax saved is money earned. Invest right and make money.

Monday, December 29, 2014

Tax Saving Options

It’s that time of the year where most of us run to save tax, as our organizations ask us to submit proof.

The most popular section for saving tax is Section 80C. Let us look at the various avenues available to us under this section. Remember that this section gives us deduction not only for investments but also expenses. The total amount allowed under this section is Rs. 1,50,000/-. Let us look at the options available:
  • Principle amount of Home Loan: If you have been repaying your Home loan EMI’s, the principle amount of the home loan is eligible for deduction. Please note that the interest amount is allowed as a deduction under section 24 against income from house property. The amount of stamp duty and Registration fee is also allowed as deduction if a person has not taken a housing loan.
  • Tuition Fee: This is allowed for only the tuition fee paid to any school, college or university for education of children. The maximum allowed is Rs. 1,00,000/- per child. You can claim exemption only for 2 children.
  • Life Insurance Premium: Any premium paid for insuring your own life or that of your child or spouse is allowed as deduction. You have to ensure that the premium paid does not exceed 10% of the assured amount.
  • PF: In case of salaried employees your own contribution to PF (compulsory or voluntary) is allowed as deduction.
  • PPF: Any contribution to PPF is allowed as deduction.
  • 5 Year Bank Fixed Deposits: The principle amount invested is allowed as deduction. Interest amount received is taxable.
  • 5 year postal time deposit: This is similar to bank fixed deposit. Interest amount received is taxable.
  • NSC: There are 2 types available 5 years and 10 years. Any investment is eligible for deduction. Interest amount received is taxable and also can be claimed under section 80C as investment, as interest is treated as reinvested.
  • Senior Citizen Saving Scheme: investment in this scheme is allowed as deduction, but this is available only for those above the age of 55. Interest amount received is taxable.
  • ELSS: any investment in this is available as deduction.  
Try and plan your tax saving wisely, if after doing any of the above, you exhausts you 80C limit, do not do any other investment under this section unless it is as per your financial goals.

If you have a housing loan, interest paid on housing loan to the extend of Rs. 2,50,000/- is allowed as deduction, under income from house property for self-occupied property.
Premium for health insurance is allowed as deduction under section 80D upto Rs. 15,000/- for self and family and Rs. 20,000/- for Sr. Citizens.

Make use of the options given to you and save tax. Tax saved is money earned.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Money Saved is money earned

The budget is out and as usual every individual looks at how it impacts his bottom line. In this budget, with the change in tax slabs, the outgo in terms of tax deduction would decrease. That means more money in hand. If your income is above eight lakhs, it is substantial i.e. Rs. 50,000/- plus, but it would be less depending on the tax slab you were in. 
The amount is not small. If we assume that our income was the same, the additional saving would come to around Rs.4,200/- per month. Let us look at what we can do with a sum of around Rs. 4,000/- per month.
All of us have a dream, a short term dream or a long term dream. This amount could be kept aside on a monthly basis to meet this dream.
Till date we have seen that once the income tax slabs and rates are announced they have always been honored.  So our first assumption would be that the finance minister would keep his word and in that case we should start planning we have around 2 months to do it.
There are many of us who are not able to save because of some commitments. Therefore we are not even able to do our investment of Rs. 1 lakh. If you are in this bracket, then start investing in tax saving schemes, using the tax saved per month for investment. With this the tax saving would increase giving you more money in your hands.
Now if you have been taking care of the Rs. 1 lakh in Sec. 80C, then you should go for some investment which would help you create a good corpus. Go in for SIP’s in some good Equity mutual fund.  Other options would be to go for a pension plan. No harm in planning for your retirement, right?
If your dream is a short term dream, go for a recurring deposit.
Another way of increasing the money in your hand would be to pay off some old debts or credit card dues. You will save on interest and financial charges. Increasing your EMI amount could also help you get debt free sooner.
In this budget the finance minister has also announced an addition deduction of Rs.20,000/- in long term infrastructure bonds. Details are not clear, but then it would still be a saving for the long term with an additional saving on tax.

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT)

When we look at our salary, we think about tax. Any income received is taxable. But in some cases the tax is borne by the employer on behalf of us. These cases mostly come under fringe benefit tax.

What is fringe benefit?

The taxation of fringe benefits provided by an employer to his employees, in addition to the cash salary or wages paid, is fringe benefit tax.

Any benefits or perks that employees get as a result of their employment are to be taxed, but in this case in the hands of the employer.

This includes employee compensation other than the wages, tips, health insurance, life insurance and pension plans.

Fringe benefits as outlined in Income tax act mean any privilege, service, facility or amenity directly or indirectly provided by an employer to his employees by reason of their employment.

They also include reimbursements, made by the employer either directly or indirectly to the employees for any purpose, contributions by the employer to an approved superannuation fund as well as any free or concessional tickets provided by the employer for private journeys undertaken by the employees or their family members.

We have got a fair idea of what is fringe benefit, but are all items included in the fringe benefits? As per the Income Tax Act the following items are covered:

• Employer's expenses on entertainment, hospitality, sales promotion and publicity, employee welfare, conveyance, tour and travel (including foreign travel) and use of hotels.
• Employer's provision of employee transportation to work or a cash allowances for this purpose.
• Employer's contributions to an approved retirement plan
• Employee stock option plans (ESOPs)
• Use of telephones, including mobile phones
• Expenses on festival celebrations, use of clubs, scholarships and so on.
• Repairs and maintenance of cars
• expenses on club facilities
• Scholarship to children of employees
• Conference
• Gifts

So how is fringe benefits tax beneficial to employees? If it was taxed to the employee, it would have been at the slab rate in which the individual falls. But in this case it would be at a fixed rate and that too at a much lower rate. Currently the effective FBT rate is around 2%. Isn’t that wonderful?

Who pays fringe benefit tax?

Under the provisions, fringe benefit tax is payable by an employer.
The tax is payable in respect of the value of fringe benefits provided or deemed to have been provided by an employer to his employees during the previous year.

The value of fringe benefits so calculated, is subject to additional income tax in respect of fringe benefits, as provided by the Income Tax Act.

The fringe benefit tax is payable by the employer even where he is not liable to pay income-tax on his total income computed in accordance with the other provisions of this Act.

The benefit does not have to be provided by the employer directly for him to attract fringe benefit tax. Fringe benefit tax may still be applied if the benefit is provided by a third party or an associate of the employer or by under an arrangement with the employer.

Will phone bills invite fringe benefit tax?

Yes. For telephone expenses, the Act assumes that 10 per cent of all calls made from an office are by employees for personal reasons, while for fuel; the extent of use by employees has been taken at 20 per cent.

What about fringe benefit tax on use of cars, etc?

The tax on perquisites like maintenance of a car, club membership, free meals, credit cards and tours and travel, which were earlier taxed in the hands of the employees, has been withdrawn and the employer is liable to pay tax on this.

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Tax Planning

March is a time by when you would have already completed your tax planning and investment, but if you have not done it now is the time. Anyway you can go through this article to do your planning for the next financial year as well.

Most people have the tendency to do investment based on what comes their way or what they hear from their friends and families. This helps in saving tax, but does this type of investment meet your long term investment objective? While doing tax planning one should have a look at different investment options in conjunction with your age, needs, goals and risk-appetite.

The 2 main sections we would look at are sections 80C and 80D.

As you are aware, the maximum investment allowed as deduction from Income under section 80C is Rs. 1,00,000/-. Now depending on your income you can decide to make a lump sum investment or do it on a monthly basis. There are many items which are available as deduction under section 80C.

Let’s have a look at some of them:

Employee Provident Fund: Most companies have Employee Provident Fund, where 12% of your basic and DA are deducted as contribution to this fund. In addition to this your employer also contributes and to this fund. The amount contributed by your employer is not added to your income, so you do not pay tax on this income.

The Employee Provident fund helps in building a healthy retirement corpus. You also get an interest on the amount lying in this fund and the interest is tax free. This fund would be operative till you retire.

Public Provident Fund: This is also another way of building your retirement corpus, but this is voluntary. Anyone can open a Public Provident Fund account. The minimum contribution per annum is Rs.500 and maximum Rs.70,000/-. You also get an interest on the amount lying in this fund and the interest is tax free.

The tenure of this fund is 15 years and can be renewed by 5 years each time after that. The best part is withdrawal facility is also available, subject to certain conditions.

Pension Plans: Though this comes under a different section, investment under pension plans comes under the overall limit of Rs. 1,00,000/-

Life Insurance: Premium paid on a life insurance policy is also deductable under section 80C. The premium amount should not exceed 20% of the insured amount. Any return received against an insurance policy is tax free. One should note that insurance and investment are 2 different things and insurance should not be mixed with investment.

Housing Loan: Repayment of principal amount upto Rs. 1,00,000/- is allowed as deduction under this section. In addition interest payment on housing loan upto Rs. 1,50,000/- is allowed as deduction under Income from house property.

Tuition Fees: Whole amount of Tuition fees paid towards your childs education is allowed as deduction.

National Saving Certificate: Investment upto Rs.1,00,000/- is allowed as deduction. lock-in period is 6 years. The interest received is taxable as income from other sources, but since it is locked in, the interest is also allowed as a deduction under section 80C.

Bank Fixed Deposit: Fixed deposit for 5 years or more in a scheduled bank is allowed as a deduction. The interest earned is taxable under Income from Other Sources.

Equity Linked Saving Scheme: Only schemes notified under the income tax act are allowed as deduction. The minimum lock-in period is 3 years. Dividend received is tax free.

IPO of Infrastructure Company: As the name suggests this deduction is only available for purchase of shares of an Infrastructure Company through an IPO. Dividend received is tax free. The lock-in period is 3 years.

Deduction under section 80D

Health Insurance: Premium paid towards health insurance policy is allowed as deduction upto Rs.15,000/-

Having seen the different deduction options, let’s see what options we should look at different stages of your life.

Single: Here we assume that you are in your early stage of your career with not many liabilities. The risk taking appetite is also high. So the suggestion is to put maximum in Equity Linked Saving Scheme. But at the same time it is best to start accumulating your retirement corpus. One should look at Pension plans and Public Provident Funds.

Married without children: Being young, the risk taking appetite is high, but being married one should also try and protect one’s spouse. In addition to Equity Linked saving scheme and building a retirement corpus, one should also look at life insurance policy.

Married with children: At this stage the risk taking appetite is reduced, so the exposure to Equity Linked Saving Scheme should be reduced. People in this age group would definitely be looking for regular income to take care of children’s education, marriage and other expenses.

Increasing exposure to Public Provident Fund would help, since withdrawal is allowed, when needed. The other option is to look at National Saving Certificate and Bank Fixed Deposits. But one should note the interest is taxable. One should also look at increasing the life insurance coverage, since the numbers of persons depending on you have increased.

Pre-retirement: This is the best time to increase exposure to Pension Plans and Public Provident Fund.

Post-retirement: This is the time when a person wants to have a good life style. With the increase in tax breaks and reduction in income, this is the best time to have exposure to National Saving Certificate and Bank Fixed Deposits

Monday, February 2, 2009

Provident Fund

Provident fund scheme was setup to help people build a retirement corpus. These are of 2 types:

• Employee provident fund
• Public Provident fund

A person can invest both these schemes. Any contribution to both the funds is allowed as a deduction from income under section 80C of the Income tax act. Though the interest rates may sound low, because of the tax exemption the return is larger. A cherry on top of this, is the interest earned is also tax free. The amount in these accounts is also exempt from wealth tax.

One important thing to remember, money cannot be transferred from Employee Provident Fund to Public Provident fund of vice versa. What is the difference between both the types of provident funds? Let’s try and understand each of them.

Employee Provident fund:
This fund is usually run by the Employee Provident Fund Organization. Though in large organizations the organization may run the fund on its own by forming a trust. 12% of an employee’s salary (Basic + Dearness Allowance) is deducted towards this corpus. The employer also contributes an equal amount. But from the Employers contribution 8.33% is transferred towards pension scheme and balance is added to the employees corpus. The Pension scheme is also run by the Employee Provident Fund Organization.

The money is returned to the employee on retirement along with Interest. Interest on the amount is declared on a yearly basis. Partial withdrawal is allowed from this fund for upto 90% of the employee’s contribution. This scheme is available only for salaried employees. If this account is closed before 5 years, the amount withdrawn is taxable.

The best part of this is employer contribution. But tax exemption is available only on own contribution.

Public Provident fund:
Any resident Indian can open a Public Provident fund account. The amount invested in this account is backed by the government. A person can invest upto Rs. 70000/- into this account in a fiscal year. A fiscal year is from April to March. The current interest payable on this investment is 8%.

The money in this account is locked for a period of 15 years. Partial withdrawal from this account is allowed after a period of 5 years limited to 50% of the balance on the date of withdrawal. If money is required earlier then the option is to take a loan. But the loan amount is limited to 25% of the balance.