Click here to Download Automatic All in One Income Tax Preparation Excel Based Software for FY 2014-15 (This Excel Based Software  can prepare at a time Income Tax Computed Sheet + Individual Salary Sheet + Individual Salary Structure for Govt and Non Govt employees + Automatic Arrears Relief Calculator + Automatic HRA Exemption + Form 16 Part B and Form 16 Part A&B for Govt and Non Govt Concern's Employees for the Financial Year 2014-15 and Assessment Year 2015-16)

Under Section 80 C ( Max Limit Rs. 1.5 Lakh)

The total limit under section 80C is Rs 1 lakh. Included under this heading are many small savings schemes like NSC, PPF and other pension plans. Payment of life insurance premiums and investment in specified government infrastructure bonds are also eligible for deduction under Section 80C

Most of the Income Tax payee try to save tax by saving under Section 80C of the Income Tax Act.  However, it is important to know the Section in toto so that one can make best use of the options available for exemption under income tax Act.   One important point to note here is that one can not only save tax by undertaking the specified investments, but some expenditure which you normally incur can also give you the tax exemptions.

Besides these investments, the payments towards the principal amount of your home loan are also eligible for an income deduction. Education expense of children is increasing by the day. Under this section, there is provision that makes payments towards the education fees for children eligible for an income deduction

Sec 80C of the Income Tax Act is the section that deals with these tax breaks. It states that qualifying investments, up to a maximum of Rs. 1 Lakh, are deductible from your income. This means that your income gets reduced by this investment amount (up to Rs. 1 Lakh), and you end up paying no tax on it at all!

This benefit is available to everyone, irrespective of their income levels. Thus, if you are in the highest tax bracket of 30%, and you invest the full Rs. 1 Lakh, you save tax of Rs. 30,000. Isn’t this great? So, let’s understand the qualifying investments first.

Qualifying Investments

Provident Fund (PF) & Voluntary Provident Fund (VPF: PF is automatically deducted from your salary. Both you and your employer contribute to it. While employer’s contribution is exempt from tax, your contribution (i.e., employee’s contribution) is counted towards section 80C investments. You also have the option to contribute additional amounts through voluntary contributions (VPF). Current rate of interest is 8.5% per annum (p.a.) and is tax-free.

Public Provident Fund (PPF): Among all the assured returns small saving schemes, Public Provident Fund (PPF) is one of the best. Current rate of interest is 8% tax-free and the normal maturity period is 15 years. Minimum amount of contribution is Rs 500 and maximum is Rs 70,000. A point worth noting is that interest rate is assured but not fixed. Interest on PPF  is proposed to increase to 8.60% and Investment Limit is also expected to increase to Rs. 1,50,000/- 

Life Insurance Premiums: Any amount that you pay towards life insurance premium for yourself, your spouse or your children can also be included in Section 80C deduction. Please note that life insurance premium paid by you for your parents (father / mother / both) or your in-laws is not eligible for deduction under section 80C. If you are paying premium for more than one insurance policy, all the premiums can be included. It is not necessary to have the insurance policy from Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) – even insurance bought from private players can be considered here.

Equity Linked Savings Scheme (ELSS): There are some mutual fund (MF) schemes specially created for offering you tax savings, and these are called Equity Linked Savings Scheme, or ELSS. The investments that you make in ELSS are eligible for deduction under Sec 80C.

Home Loan Principal Repayment: The Equated Monthly Installment (EMI) that you pay every month to repay your home loan consists of two components – Principal and Interest.The principal component of the EMI qualifies for deduction under Sec 80C. Even the interest component can save you significant income tax – but that would be under Section 24 of the Income Tax Act. Please read “Income Tax (IT) Benefits of a Home Loan / Housing Loan / Mortgage”, which presents a full analysis of how you can save income tax through a home loan.

Stamp Duty and Registration Charges for a home: The amount you pay as stamp duty when you buy a house, and the amount you pay for the registration of the documents of the house can be claimed as deduction under section 80C in the year of purchase of the house.

National Savings Certificate (NSC): National Savings Certificate (NSC) is a 6-Yr small savings instrument eligible for section 80C tax benefit. Rate of interest is eight per cent compounded half-yearly, i.e., the effective annual rate of interest is 8.16%. If you invest Rs 1,000, it becomes Rs 1601 after six years. The interest accrued every year is liable to tax (i.e., to be included in your taxable income) but the interest is also deemed to be reinvested and thus eligible for section 80C deduction.
 

Pension Funds – Section 80CCC: This section – Sec 80CCC – stipulates that an investment in pension funds is eligible for deduction from your income. Section 80CCC investment limit is clubbed with the limit of Section 80C – it maeans that the total deduction available for 80CCC and 80C is Rs. 1 Lakh.This also means that your investment in pension funds upto Rs. 1 Lakh can be claimed as deduction u/s 80CCC. However, as mentioned earlier, the total deduction u/s 80C and 80CCC can not exceed Rs. 1 Lakh.

5-Yr bank fixed deposits (FDs): Tax-saving fixed deposits (FDs) of scheduled banks with tenure of 5 years are also entitled for section 80C deduction.

Senior Citizen Savings Scheme 2004 (SCSS): A recent addition to section 80C list, Senior Citizen Savings Scheme (SCSS) is the most lucrative scheme among all the small savings schemes but is meant only for senior citizens. Current rate of interest is 9% per annum payable quarterly. Please note that the interest is payable quarterly instead of compounded quarterly. Thus, unclaimed interest on these deposits won’t earn any further interest. Interest income is chargeable to tax.

5-Yr post office time deposit (POTD) scheme: POTDs are similar to bank fixed deposits. Although available for varying time duration like one year, two year, three year and five year, only 5-Yr post-office time deposit (POTD) – which currently offers 7.5 per cent rate of interest –qualifies for tax saving under section 80C. Effective rate works out to be 7.71% per annum (p.a.) as the rate of interest is compounded quarterly but paid annually. The Interest is entirely taxable.

NABARD rural bonds: There are two types of Bonds issued by NABARD (National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development): NABARD Rural Bonds and Bhavishya Nirman Bonds (BNB). Out of these two, only NABARD Rural Bonds qualify under section 80C.

Unit linked Insurance Plan : ULIP stands for Unit linked Saving Schemes. ULIPs cover Life insurance with benefits of equity investments.They have attracted the attention of investors and tax-savers not only because they help us save tax but they also perform well to give decent returns in the long-term.

Others: Apart form the major avenues listed above, there are some other things, like children’s education expense (for which you need receipts), that can be claimed as deductions under Sec 80C.

So, where should you invest?

Like most other things in personal finance, the answer varies from person to person. But the following can be the broad principles:

Provident Fund: This is deducted compulsorily, and there is no running away from it! So, this has to be the first. Also, apart from saving tax now, it builds a long term, tax-free retirement corpus for you.

Home Loan Principal: If you are paying the EMI for a home loan, this one is automatic too! So, it comes as a close second.

Life Insurance Premiums: Every earning person having dependents should have adequate life insurance coverage. (For more on this, please read “Life after life – Why you should buy Life Insurance”) Therefore, life insurance premium payments are the next.

Voluntary Provident Fund (VPF) / Public Provident Fund (PPF): If you think that the PF being deducted from your salary is not enough, you should invest some more in VPF, or in PPF.

Equity Linked Savings Scheme (ELSS): After the above, if you have not reached the limit of Rs. 1,50,000, then you should invest the remaining amount in Equity Linked Savings Scheme (ELSS).

On January 09, 2015 by www.taxexcel.net

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To start with, let the explain what exactly has changed in terms of taxation from last year (i.e. 2014-15):

Click here to download All in One TDS on Salary for Govt & Non-Govt employees for the Financial Year 2014-15 [ This Excel Utility can prepare at a time Tax Compute Sheet + Arrears Relief Calculation + HRA Exemption Calculation + Form 16 Part A&B and Part B ]

1. Tax slabs have been changed
2. Deduction limit under sec. 80C increased to 1,50,000 from earlier 1,00,000. PPF investment limit under sec. 80C also increased to 1,50,000
3. Exemption for interest paid on your housing loan has been raised to 2,00,000 from 1,50,000 earlier

All changes this budget have been beneficial for the tax payer. If you are already aware of all the provision for saving income tax, you can skip the remaining part and go directly to the income taxcalculator for FY 2014-15 to compute your income tax liability (or TDS) basis your salary or business income. Others, do read on to know all the different tactics you can use to save on income tax.

Income Tax Slabs

Income tax slabs have been changed this year. Standard deduction limit has been raised to Rs. 2,50,000 for both Male and Female assesses.
1) In Case of General Assesses (Both Male & Female):

Income Bracket	Rate
0 to Rs. 2,50,000	0   %
Rs. 2,50,001 to Rs. 5,00,000	10 %
Rs. 5,00,001 to Rs. 10,00,000	20 %
Above Rs. 10,00,000	30 %

2) In Case of Senior Citizens (Age above 60 years but below 80 years):

Income Bracket	Rate
0 to Rs. 3,00,000	0   %
Rs. 3,00,001 to Rs. 5,00,000	10 %
Rs. 5,00,001 to Rs. 10,00,000	20 %
Above Rs. 10,00,000	30 %

3) In Case of Very Senior Citizens (Age 80 years and above):

Income Bracket	Rate
0 to Rs. 5,00,000	0   %
Rs. 5,00,001 to Rs. 10,00,000	20 %
Above Rs. 10,00,000	30 %

* On final tax amount, a surcharge of 3 %
**No surcharge above 10 lacs.
***An additional surcharge of 10% will be applicable on persons whose annual income is above Rs. 1 crore. This surcharge will be applicable for only one year

Income Tax Exemptions: 

1) Section 80 C Limit  – Raised this year (to Rs. 1,50,000)

• Deduction on premium paid for a life insurance policy, taken after 1 April 2012, will be allowed only if yearly premium is less than 10% of sum assured.  If its more than 10% then it will be not eligible for deduction u/sec. 80C
• ELSS (Mutual Fund)
• PPF (upto Rs. 1,50,000)
• EPF
• FD for 5 years
• Pension Plans
• NSC
• Post Office SB
• Infrastructure Bonds
• Expenditure on Children Education (For upto 2 children only for full time education)
• Tuition fees (Only Tuition fees excluding Development Fees, Donations, etc.)
• Housing loan principal
• K.V.P ( Newly Added )

2) Section 80CCD - Unchanged this year

Deduction under this section can be claimed only if the contribution to your NPS account is made by your employer and the deduction is limited to a maximum of 10% of your basic salary. Returns on NPS are tax free, but withdrawal is still taxable. The deduction under sec 80CCD is over and above the deduction available under sec 80C.

3) Section 80 D – Unchanged this year

• Deduction of Rs. 15000/- is allowed if the same is paid as premium for Medical Insurance taken for self / dependents or towards preventive health check-up (max Rs. 5000). In case any of self / dependents is a senior citizen, the deduction allowed is Rs. 20000/-
• Additional Rs. 15000/- is allowed as deduction if the same is paid as premium for Medical Insurance taken for parents. In case the parent is a senior citizen, the deduction allowed is Rs. 20000/-

Age profiles	Premium paid for medical insurance		Total Deduction under Sec. 80D
	Yourself, your spouse and kids, if any	Parents
Every one is under 60 years	15,000	15,000	30,000
You and your family are less than 60 years & parents are above 60 years	15,000	20,000	35,000
You and your parents are of 60 years and above	20,000	20,000	40,000

4) Section 80DD – Unchanged this year

Deduction under section 80DD

• Exemption given for expenditure made for a disabled dependant towards Medical Treatment/Training/Rehabilitation. It also includes the LIC/Insurance premium paid towards maintenance of such dependant.
• Maximum deduction allowed is Rs. 50,000/- in case of normal disability and Rs. 1 Lakh in case of severe disability.

5) Section 80DDB - Unchanged this year

• Exemption given for expenditure incurred on specified disease or ailments such as cancer/aids.
• Maximum deduction allowed is Rs. 40,000/-. In case of Senior Citizens, maximum deduction allowed is Rs. 60,000/-

List of ailments covered:
(i) Neurological Diseases where the disability level has been certified to be of 40% and above,

1. Dementia ;
2. Dystonia Musculorum Deformans ;
3. Motor Neuron Disease ;
4. Ataxia ;
5. Chorea ;
6. Hemiballismus ;
7. Aphasia ;
8. Parkinsons Disease ;

(ii) Malignant Cancers ;

(iii) Full Blown Acquired Immuno-Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) ;

(iv) Chronic Renal failure ;

(v) Hematological disorders :

1. Hemophilia ;
2. Thalassaemia.

6) Section 80E - Unchanged this year

Deduction is allowed for repayment of interest component of Higher Education loan. All education after Class 12 is allowed, either vocational or Fulltime. But should be from a school/institute/university recognized by the government.

7) Section 80G - Unchanged this year

• Contribution to exempt charities – 25/50/75/100% depending on the charity and as per approval
• 100% exemption on donation to political parties

8) Section 80U - Unchanged this year

• Deduction upto Rs. 50,000/- is allowed in case of Permanent Disability.
• In case of Permanent Disability exceeding 80%, maximum deduction allowed is Rs. 1,00,000/-.

9) Section 24(1)(vi) & Section 80EE - Raised this year

• Housing loan interest. Maximum allowed limit raised to – Rs. 2,00,000 (for loans taken after 1 April 1999. For loans before that Maximum Investment Limit was 30,000).
• 
  
• Additional deduction of Rs. 1 lac will be applicable to persons taking first home loan of up to Rs. 25 lacs for property worth upto Rs. 40 lac. For such persons, the total deduction will be Rs. 2.5 lacs (Rs. 1.5 lac available under section 24(1)(vi) and Rs. 1 lac available under this new section 80EE).

11) Conveyance/Transport Allowance - Unchanged this year

Any Conveyance / Transport Allowance given to an employee is tax free upto Rs. 9,600 /- (No Supporting Bills required).

12) Medical Allowance - Unchanged this year

Any Medical Allowance given to an employee is tax free upto Rs. 15,000 /- (Supporting Bills required).

13) HRA - Unchanged this year

Any House Rent Allowance given to an employee is tax free upto the minimum value of the following conditions (subject to – when an employee can produce rent paid receipts from landlord for the period and if the employee has not availed of tax exemptions for home loan interest / principal repayment):

1. 50% of Annual Basic (40% of Annual Basic in case of non-metros)
2. Actual HRA received
3. Rent Paid – (10% of Annual Basic)
   Calculate HRA Exemption U/s 10(13A) with Excel utility

14) Professional Tax - Unchanged this year

Any Professional Tax deducted from an employee’s salary can be reduced from the annual salary income to arrive at taxable salary.

15) Provident Fund - Unchanged this year

Provident Fund contributions (under section 80 C and subject to an overall investment limit of Rs. 1,50,000 ) deducted from an employee’s salary are tax exempt.

16)80CCG – Direct Equity Investment - Unchanged this year

Under ‘Rajiv Gandhi Equity Savings Scheme‘ – a new equity investor will be able to claim 50% of his investment in direct equity as deduction subject to maximum investment of Rs. 50,000 and provided his taxable income is below Rs. 10 lacs. The investment will be subject to 3 years lock-in.  
Government has notified this scheme (RGESS). Mutual funds and ETFs that invest in BSE100 or CNX 100 stocks or PSUs which are Navratna, Maharatna and Miniratna will qualify under this scheme. These investments can be traded over stock exchange after 1 year of investment. New equity investor has been defined as someone who has opened a Demat account but has not bought any securities till date of notification of this scheme (22 Sep 2012).

17) Section 80TTA – Savings Bank Interest - Unchanged this year

No tax will be charged on interest earned on balance in savings bank account subject to a maximum of Rs. 10,000 per year.

18) Section 87 A [Tax Rebate Rs.2,000/-  - Unchanged this year

On December 13, 2014 by www.taxexcel.net

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Click here to Download All in One Master of Form 16 Part B for Govt & Non-Govt Employees for the Financial Year 2014-15 & Ass Year 2015-16 ( This Excel utility can prepare at a time 50 employees Tax Compute Sheet + Individual Salary Structure + Individual Salary Sheet Form 16 Part B)

Each year most of the people eagerly wait for the budget proposals to be announced for various reasons.

One of the significant reasons is to know what all instruments of investments and deductions / exemptions have been included in the Section 80C of Indian Income Tax for employees, so that they can plan their tax savings according to the same, and maximize the benefits.

As income tax is major component of the salary, the changes / additions in 80C Section has major impact on the savings and expenses of salaried employees as they have a fixed source of income. The 80C Section deductions are introduced to boost savings of employees on one side and save tax on the other side.

Actually, Section 80C replaced the earlier Section 88 which was available till 1^st April 2006. The Deductions permitted in the 80 C Section of Indian Income Tax is more or less the same investment mixes that were available in Section 88. Even the section 80CCC on pension scheme contributions was merged with the above 80C. However, this new section has allowed a major change in the method of providing the tax benefit. Section 80C of the Income Tax Act allows certain investments and expenditure to be tax-exempt. One must plan investments well and spread it out across the various instruments specified under this section to avail maximum tax benefit. Unlike Section 88, there are no sub-limits and is irrespective of how much you earn and under which tax bracket you fall.

The most important aspect that needs to be kept in mind is that the total exemption limit under section 80c is revised from Rs 1,00,000 to Rs 1,50,000 in the budget presented by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on July 10th 2014. 

Now see in details those deductions that are permissible under section 80C in this section. The following is section 80c deductions / exemption list mainly.

Provident Fund (PF) deduction under section 80C

Any contributions to Provident Fund, Voluntary provident Fund (VPF) or savings made in Public Provident Fund (PPF Account) are eligible for income tax deduction under section 80C of Indian Income Tax Act. The PF limit has been increased to 1.5 Lakhs from 1.0 Lakh earlier

Life Insurance Premiums

Any Life Insurance premiums (for one or more insurance policies) paid by you for yourself, your spouse or your children is eligible under income tax deduction under section 80C of Indian Income Tax Act.

ELSS Equity Linked Saving Schemes

Any investment made in certain Mutual Funds called equity linked saving schemes qualifies for section 80C deduction. Please note that not all mutual fund investments are eligible for this deduction. Some examples of ELSS funds are – SBI Magnum Tax Gain, HDFC Tax Saver, HDFC Long term advantage, etc.

ULIP – Unit Linked Insurance Plan

Investments made in certain ULIPs of Unit Trust of India and LIC of India are eligible for 80C deduction.

Bank Fixed deposits or Term deposits of term greater than 5 years

According to a relatively new provision amount saved in fixed deposits of term at least five years is eligible for income tax deduction under section 80C of Indian Income Tax Act.

Principal part of EMI on Housing Loan deduction under section 80C

If you are paying EMI on a housing loan, you would be aware that the EMI (equated monthly installments) consists of two parts – principal part and interest part. The principal part of the EMI on your housing loan is eligible for income tax deduction under section 80C. The interest part is also eligible for tax deduction, however not under section 80C but section 24.

Tuition Fees deduction under section 80C

Amount paid as tuition fee for the education of two children of the employee / Tax Payer is eligible for deduction under section 80C of Indian Income Tax Act.

Public Provident Fund (P.P.F.)under section 80C

The maximum limit of P.P.F. is now available up to Rs. 1.5 Lakh

 Other 80C deductions

Amount saved in National Saving Certificate (NSC),  amount paid as stamp duty and registration charges while buying a new home are eligible for income tax deductions under section 80C of Indian Income Tax Act.

Click here to Download All in One Master of Form 16 Part B for Govt & Non-Govt Employees for the Financial Year 2014-15 & Ass Year 2015-16 ( This Excel utility can prepare at a time 50 employees Tax Compute Sheet + Individual Salary Structure + Individual Salary Sheet Form 16 Part B)

On August 25, 2014 by www.taxexcel.net

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