It is lump sum payment made by an employer to an employee in consideration of his past service when the employment is terminated. It is paid for long and meritorious services rendered by an employee. With enactment of Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972, gratuity payment has become mandatory and in case of non application of gratuity Act, the employee can claim gratuity under terms of contract of employment.

The Payment of Gratuity Act 1972:- Gratuity is a voluntary Payment made by the employer to the employee in recognition of continuous, meritorious services and sincere efforts by the employee towards the organization.It is governed under the Payment of Gratuity Act 1972.It is an Act to provide for a scheme for the payment of gratuity to employees engaged in factories, mines, Oilfields, plantations, ports, railway companies, and shops or other establishments.

As per the Act, the gratuity amount is 15 days’ wage multiplied by the number of years put in by you. Here wage refers to basic salary plus dearness allowance. Take the monthly salary drawn by you last (basic + dearness allowance) at the time of resi

In respect of other employees, it is to be determined whether they receive gratuity from an employer covered under the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 or not. It is pertinent to note that every gratuity payment received by an employee is not exempt from tax per se. In this context, it is important to note the provisions of the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 read with the Income Tax Act, 1961.

The Cabinet on Thursday approved an amendment to the Gratuity Act to raise the ceiling from Rs 3.5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh. The Bill to amend the Act will now go to Parliament, a government official told.

Before 2008-09, deduction towards leave encashment and gratuity was a controversial issue following a Calcutta High Court judgment in the case of Exide Industries. The court ruled in favour of Exide and against the revenue department, saying that such provisions whether paid or not were eligible for deductions on the basis of actuarial valuation. A stay was announced in 2008 for 2008-09 returns assessed in the current financial year.

In the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 (39 of 1972) (hereinafter referred to as ‘the principal Act’), in section 2, for clause (e), the following clause shall be substituted, namely:—‘(e) “employee” means any person (other than an apprentice) who is employed for wages, whether the terms of such employment are express or implied, in any kind of work, manual or otherwise, in or in connection with the work of a factory, mine, oilfield, plantation, port, railway company, shop or other establishment to which this Act applies, but does not include any such person who holds a post under the Central Government or a State Government and is governed by any other Act or by any rules providing for payment of gratuity;’.

SUMMARY OF CASE LAW The Income-tax Act exempts the gratuity amount to the extent of limit prescribed under the said Act; there is no distinction between the gratuity paid under the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 or otherwise CASE LAW DETAILS Decided by: HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA, In The case of: North West Karnataka Road Transport [...]

Notwithstanding non-applicability of Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 to units having less than 10 workmen, units covered by the Factories Act, 1948, were to apply the gratuity law to their workers, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has held. Agreeing with the decision of the Joint Commissioner of Labour, Madurai (Appellate Authority under the Gratuity Act), that Section 1(3)(a) of the Gratuity Act was applicable even to establishments having less than 10 workers, under notification dated September 9, 1967 of the Department of Industries, Labour and Housing, Tamil Nadu, extending the Factories Act to all tailoring units in the State, Mr Justice K. Chandru ruled that the contention of writ petitioner (Star Tailoring, Tirunelveli) that Gratuity law would not apply to his units had to be rejected.