Q. I am a 64-year-old retired bank employee-cum-pensioner. My spouse (59) is a housewife with nil income. My total income for FY2019-2020 is ₹10.70 lakh. My net taxable income is ₹8.14 lakh after various deductions.
The following is extended to retirees by my erstwhile employer :
1) ₹4,700 as reimbursement towards Mediclaim policy premium ( Though my actual premium paid is ₹12,000)
2) ₹4,000 in medical aid
3) ₹3,500 for annual health check up for self and spouse against submission of bills ( Not treated as taxable income by my bank )
All along I have been claiming only Mediclaim premium (less ₹4,700 reimbursed by the bank) under Sec 80 D.
I have the following queries:
1) I have been spending about ₹2,000 - ₹2.500 p.m. towards cost of medicines. We both do not suffer from any specified diseases as per Income Tax Rules. Can I claim relief for the pharmacy bills amounting to ₹30,000 under medical expenses as per Sec 80 D? Also, I have been incurring regular expenses towards doctor’s fee for regular check-ups and diagnostics such as x-rays
2) Can I claim ₹5,000 relief under preventive health check-up under Sec 80 D?
N. Sundaresan
A. (Reply to Query 1) Under Section 80D, only those senior citizens who do not have any health insurance policy in force in their names are allowed to avail deduction for the medical expenses incurred by them. As you already have a health insurance policy, you are not eligible for claiming expenses incurred for medical purposes. It does not depend on the benefits offered by your health insurance policy.
Reply to Query 2
An amount spent towards preventive health check-ups can be claimed up to ₹5,000 subject to the overall limits as provided under Section 80D. Your former employer is treating the amount paid to you and your spouse as reimbursement as the amount disbursed to you is not being added to your total income. Hence, any amount spent over and above ₹3,500 (received from your former employer) can be claimed as deduction for the purpose of preventive health check-up subject to maximum limit of ₹5,000 and overall limits as provided.
Q. My parents-in-law, both senior citizens, are joint holders of some FDs with a nationalised bank. My father-in-law expired last year. We were advised to continue the FDs in the current format as they were begun when interest rates were higher. However, when we attempted to submit Form 15-H for the current financial year, we were informed that it would not be possible as the first holder had died. The options given to us were to either continue the FDs till maturity and have the TDS deducted or close the FDs, make fresh deposits solely in my mother-in-law’s name and accept the lower interest rates. While my mother-in-law has a PAN, she has never submitted an ITR and her annual income is below ₹4 lakh. Is there any way out?
Sujaya
A. Banks are required to deduct TDS once the interest pay out exceeds a certain limit. Your 26AS will reflect the amount of interest credited and the amount of corresponding TDS. Respective ITR is to be filed in order to claim the TDS deducted.
If the total income, including the interest received from bank, is below the basic exemption limit (₹5 lakh for assessees aged 80 and above), refund of the TDS so deducted can be claimed. As long as the income received from all sources, including the bank interest, is properly disclosed in the correct ITR (as applicable in your case) there should not be any problem irrespective of the age of the assessee.
(The author is parnter, GSS Associates, Chartered Accountants, Chennai)
