Q. I am about 81 years’ old. I desire to go for either Senior Citizens Savings Scheme or single premium Pradhan Mantri Vaya Vandana Yojana. Will I get tax relief under section 80C for the amounts invested in these schemes subject to limit of ₹1.5 lakh. I got no explicit information from Google search. Could you please advise me?
S.N. Bhadra
A. Investment in Senior Citizens Savings Scheme is available for deduction under Section 80C subject to the limits prescribed. Investment in Pradhan Mantri Vaya Vandana Yojana is not covered under Section 80C.
Q. I am a salaried person who does intraday and delivery trades in equities. I am not trading in F&O. I am confused which ITR to file. Hitherto I have been filing ITR 1 because profit generated from trades were negligible. But now I want to file ITR disclosing all my income
Unnikrishanan
A. Profits/losses generated from intraday trading will be treated as Income from Speculative Business and income derived from sale of equities which were delivered will be treated as short term capital gains (holding for less than one year) or long term capital gains (holding for more than 1 year) as the case may be. You are required to file ITR-3 in order to disclose your salary income, income from speculative business, capital gains and income from other sources, if any.
Q. I am a senior citizen pensioner with income from pension, family pension of my wife, interest from bank deposits . For the first time in my life, on the advise of a friend, I had invested in SWP of three mutual funds a total of ₹10 lakh only and I have received in the last financial year (2019-20) short term capital gains of ₹2,704/- only and LTCG of ₹1,546/- only ( as per the financial statement provided ). This forms negligible part of my income.
My queries are: 1. whether I can include the STCG amount in income from other sources and file returns in ITR - 1 . I was informed that LTCG is not taxable. Please clarify as I noticed that ITR - 2 is too long and cumbersome and I am used to ITR - 1
2. Am I eligible to deduct ₹15,000 from the family pension I receive under section 57(11)a, as informed to me recently, which I have never claimed in last few years.
Dr. V. Murali Mohan
A. Reply to Query 1: As your total income consists of Capital Gains over and above interest and pension, the applicable form for you is ITR-2. Long term capital gains derived from Equity Oriented Funds are not taxable if such gains sums up to an amount lesser than ₹1 lakh. Kindly check if the funds you have invested in are Equity Oriented Funds and treat the same accordingly.
Reply to Query 2: Under Section 57(iia) of the Income Tax Act, a deduction of a sum equal to 33.33% of such income or ₹15,000 whichever is less can be claimed.
Q. I am a public sector employee. For my daughter’s marriage I had withdrawn PF money, after my daughter’s marriage, I deposited the balance amount of my PF, as FDR in the name of my daughter and my son, duly deducting TDS on these deposits. Both children are staying in the U.S. on H1-B visa, and are getting FDR interest annually of ₹48,000 and ₹84,000. Is it necessary to file I-T returns in India?
Venkata Ramana
A. Under Section 139(1) of the Income Tax Act, an individual has to file ITR if the total income exceeds the maximum amount not chargeable to tax. If your children do not have any other income in India other than the stated, they are not required to file. However, it is to be noted that the banks deduct TDS for the interest paid by them to non-resident individuals under Section 195 of the Income Tax Act, in order to claim the refund of the same, the respective ITRs are required to be filed.
(N. Sree Kanth is partner, GSS Associates, Chartered Accountants, Chennai)
