Taxexcel: how to save your tax

Download Automated Master of Form 16 for the Financial Year 2014-15 [ This Excel Utility can prepare at a time 100 employees Form 16 for the FY 2014-15]

How to Save Tax on Salary Income? This question is popping up in the mind of every salaried employee. Since March is fast approaching, HR department has started buzzing employees about the tax savings investment he has made.

Tax Savings investments have to be made before 31^st March to claim the tax benefit and maximize savings. But before rushing to invest, one needs to and plan out his investment keeping in mind the changes made in the Budget 2014 to maximize his tax savings.

Tax Savings does not necessarily means acknowledging various sections of Income Tax Act, few sections along with your salary slip can very well accomplish the peculiar task of tax planning for you. In this article we will discuss the additional tax benefit and marginal reliefs offered by budget 2014.

The Tax Slab has already Raised up to Rs. 2.5 Lakh by the Budget 2014 and the deduction limit of U/s 80C has also raised up to Rs.1.5 Lakh.

Enhanced limit of Section 80C

Budget 2014 has augmented the limit of section 80C from Rs.1 lakh to Rs.1.5 lakhs. This enhanced limit gives additional tax relief of Rs.15,450 for the person falling in the tax slab of 30%, similarly Rs.10,300 to person falling in the tax bracket of 20% and Rs.5,150 to the person falling in the lowest tax bracket of 10%.

Maximize tax savings from increased limit of section 80C:

Home Loan Benefit

Budget 2014 has also enhanced the limit of deduction for Home Loan Principal u/s 80C and Home Loan Interest u/s 24.

Tax Benefits on Home Loan – Principal Repayment

Principal Repayment of the Home Loan taken from Financial Institutions is eligible for deductions u/s 80C but restricted to the maximum of Rs.1.5 lakhs per annum. Remember this limit of Rs.1.5 lakhs includes all deduction u/s 80C i.e. PPF, Tax Savings Bank FD, NSC, EPF, LIC etc.

Reintroduce Kissan Vikas Patra ( K.V.P.) :-

Amount invested in Kissan Vikas Patra (KVP) doubles in 100 months at the present rates. The certificates can be purchased by an adult for himself or on behalf of a minor or to a minor. It can also be purchased jointly by two adults.

A certificate may be transferred from one person to another with consent in writing to an officer of the Post Office or Bank. Under the scheme the transferee has to be eligible to purchase the certificate. The certificate may be prematurely encashed any time after two years and a half from the date of purchase, in the event of death of holder or any holder in case of joint holder, on order of court of Law and forfeiture by a pledge.

The Government has no proposal to separately tax benefit on KVP. However, income on KVP would be taxable as per existing provisions. Investor will have to undergo Know Your Customer (KYC) modalities at the time of application. In the case of transfer of KVP from one customer to another, a request has to be made in writing to an officer of the Post Office or Bank and the transferee has to be eligible to purchase KVP certification in the first instance.

Kissan Vikas Patra (KYP) has been reintroduced and is available in Post Offices. In future, KVP will be available in banks which are/will be authorized for handling small savings schemes.

Download Automated Form 16 Part B for the Financial Year 2014-15 [ This Excel Utility can prepare at a time 100 employees Form 16 Part B]

Tax Benefits on Home Loan – Interest Component

Threshold limit of deduction of Interest on the home loan u/s 24 is also increased in budget 2014 by Rs.50,000. Now you can get maximum of Rs.2 lakhs deduction on the accrued interest on Home Loan per annum.

Remember section 24 is applicable for self-occupied house only i.e. capping limit of Rs.2 lakh applies when you hold a self-occupied house. In case the house is not self-occupied than you can claim the actual amount of interest paid which can even exceed Rs.2 lakhs.

Contribution towards Provident Funds

Section 80C comprises for various instruments but contributions towards Provident Fund i.e. Employees Provident Fund or Public Provident Fund are best amongst them. Being EEE scheme (Exempt, Exempt, Exempt) these provide best solution for accumulating corpus for retirement. Point to note is that provident fund is a long term investment scheme, so opt this scheme considering it for post-retirement life.

National Savings Certificate (NSC) and Tax Savings Bank FD

Both National Savings Certificate (NSC) and Tax Savings Bank FD offers same rate of interest and same tax treatment. The only things that makes NSC more lucrative than tax savings bank FD is the method of interest calculation. The interest is compounded annually in case of tax savings bank FD while the interest is compounded half-yearly in case of NSC.

Equity Linked Savings Scheme

ELSS is also enjoys EEE tax treatment as EPF and PPF but it comes with a high degree of risk. Since ELSS is exposed to market the risk involved is similar to any other mutual fund but the quantum is increased due to lock-in period of 3 years.

You can choose any of the four for maximize your tax savings. No need to see any other investment scheme u/s 80C.

Continuation of Section 87A

Last year budget has introduced tax credit system under which person having gross salary up to Rs.5,00,000 can get additional tax rebate of Rs.2,000 from the income tax payable. This year budget did not drop this section and thus letting taxpayer to get benefitted this year also.

Click to download All in One TDS on Salary for Govt and Non-Govt employees for the Financial Year 2014-15

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Download Master of Form 16 for the Financial Year 2014-15( This Excel Utility Can prepare at a time 100 employees Form 16 for the Financial Year 2014-15)

Your family is always there to give you support -- not just emotional, but sometimes financial as well. For instance, your family members can be of great help for saving on taxes. However, all your investments and spending for your family are not eligible for tax rebates. There are rules and some of them are pretty complex. To make things simpler, here we list 7 perfectly legal ways your family can assist you cut your tax bill:

1. Buy health insurance for the family: A medical insurance is a necessity that helps you save taxes. If you buy it only for yourself, you can save up to Rs 15,000, but if you buy it for the whole family (including your parents), you can save up to Rs 40,000.

Under Section 80D, a deduction of Rs 15,000 can be claimed for the health insurance premium and preventive healthcare check-up costs for yourself, spouse and your children. If you decide to protect your parents as well, you get an additional deduction of up to Rs 20,000, if they are senior citizens. Otherwise the regular Rs 15,000 limit is also applicable for your parents. Also, this deduction is available irrespective of whether the parents are financially dependent on the taxpayer or not. So, if your wife is an earning member as well, she can use the same strategy and reduce the taxable income of the family by buying her parents a plan as well.

Download All in One TDS ON SALARY for FY 2014-15 ( Prepare at a time Tax Compute Sheet + Arrears Relief Calculation + Form 10E + HRA Calculation + Form 16 Part A&B and Part B)

2. Invest through your spouse: Exhausted your 80C limit? Gift some money to a non-earning spouse and invest that in a tax-free instrument. There is no upper limit to the amount you can give as your spouse is in the list of specified relatives whom you can gift any sum without attracting a gift tax. However, the taxman is not foolish. If you invest the gifted money, the Section 64 of the Income Tax Act, a provision for clubbing income, comes into play. Therefore, the escape route is by investing in a tax-free option such as a PPF or ELSS scheme.

Also, there is no tax on long-term gains from shares and equity mutual funds. So, if you invest in them in your spouse name and then hold for more than a year, there will be no additional tax liability. What's more? When you re-invested these earnings from the investment, it will be considered the spouse income and you'll have no further tax liability on that money. You can use this strategy even if your spouse is earning, but falls in a lower tax bracket.

Similarly, you can also invest in your parent's name and the best part is the clubbing rule won't be applicable here. Also, there is no gift tax on the money you give to your parents. So make use of their a basic tax exemption limit—Rs 2 lakh for up to 60 years, Rs 2.5 lakh for people above 60 and Rs 5 lakh if they are above 80 years of age. In case, they are exceeding the exemption limit, help them save taxes by investing in a tax-free option.

3. Loan money to spouse: Another way to avoid tax is by showing the monetary transaction as loan. So, for instance, if you buy a house in your wife's name or transfer the second property to her, the rental income from it will not be treated as your income if she pays you a nominal interest on the loan. She can also transfer her jewellery worth the value of the property in your favour. Then also the rental income from that house would not be taxable to you.

Even your fiancee (or, fiance) can help you save taxes. "If a couple is engaged, and the one of them does not have any taxable income or pays tax at a lower rate, her fiance can transfer money to her. The income from those assets won't be included in his income because the transaction took place before they got married," says Sudhir Kaushik, co-founder and CFO of Taxspanner.com. One can give up to Rs 2 lakh (the tax exempt limit) without putting any tax liability on the partner.

4. Children can help as well: You must be already claiming a deduction for the education fee of your children. You can also gift your minor child some cash. But if you plan to invest that amount, the income will be clubbed with that of the parent who earns more.

To avoid clubbing of your child's income, you may invest in tax free instruments such as PPF, mutual fund (MF) or ULIP. Open a minor PPF account in the name of your child and it won't be taxable. However, there is a limitation to this option—the contribution to your own PPF account and that of the child cannot exceed the overall limit of Rs 1 lakh a year.

You can buy a child plan from an insurance company or invest in an MF. The premium paid (or investment made, in case of MFs) by you for your child's future qualifies for a deduction under Section 80C of the Income Tax Act, 1961. A private trust for your child can also be created to save tax.

There is also a small deduction available in case that investment earns you some money. You can claim up to Rs 1,500 exemption per child per year for a maximum of two children. This means you can invest Rs 15,000 (or, Rs 30,000, if you have two children) in a one-year fixed deposit scheme which gives an annual return of 10%, and be exempt from tax.

5. Adult children can be big tax saver: The clubbing rule does not apply once the child turns 18 and the person will be treated as a separate individual for all tax purposes. This means, you can transfer money to a major child and have another 2 lakh exemption limit along all the exemptions and deductions any other taxpayer enjoys. So you can freely gift him any amount of money and invest it for tax-free gains. Your PPF limit also increases by another lakh. "You should also transfer all investments made for the child's future—deposits and investments—in major child name," . You can also invest if the child is 17 and will turn 18 before 31 March of that year and get the benefit for the entire year.

6. Pay rent to your parents: If you live with your parents, pay them rent and claim your HRA. However, the house should be registered in their name for you to make this claim. Your parents will be taxed on this. They can claim a flat 30% of the annual rent as deduction is for maintenance expenses such as repairs, insurance, etc., irrespective of the level of actual incurred expenditure.

So, say you pay Rs 25,000 a month, that is, Rs 3 lakh a year, your parents will have to pay tax on only Rs 2.1 lakh. The amount that is over and above the basic Rs 2 lakh exempt limit (Rs 2.5 lakh in case they are above 60 and up to Rs 5 lakh if above 80 years of age), can be invested in their name under tax-free Section 80 C options such as the Senior Citizens Saving Scheme, five year bank fixed deposits or tax saving equity mutual funds. You get a bigger benefit if the house is co-owned by your parents. Then they can split the earning from rent and show separate tax liability.