Provident Fund

It's not often that the taxman comes to sting you five-and-a-half months after the budget speech. But finance minister Pranab Mukherjee's decision to abolish the fringe benefits tax (FBT) last July is only now being clarified by the taxman, and the net result is that you will pay more tax.Not everybody, though. The abolition of FBT affects those taxpayers whose salaries have a heavier weighting of perquisites like official accommodation, servants, car allowance, company .. Full Article

AAYAKAR Seva Kendra (ASK) is a one stop computerized shop for the taxpayers to obtain services promised by the Department in its Citizens' Charter in a time bound manner. In order to achieve these objectives, Sevottam provides for a front office to be backed by re-engineered processes and a new outlook of the personnel so that grievances of taxpayers are not only redressed quickly but also eventually prevented. Full Article

S. 43B (b) provides that any sum payable by way of contribution to a provident fund etc shall be allowed as a deduction only in the year of payment. The second proviso to s. 43B provided that the sums referred to in s. 43B (b) would not be allowed as a deduction unless the sum had been paid on or before the due date. The said second proviso was omitted by the Finance Act, 2003 w.e.f. 1.4.2004. Simultaneously, the benefit of the first proviso, which provides that even sum.. Full Article

Granting Income Tax relief to companies for deductions for contributions to provident fund (PF), the Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday dismissed over 60 appeals by the commissioner of income tax. The Finance Act 2003, which operated from April 1, 2004, deleted a provision relating to deduction against PF and other welfare funds. According to the deleted provisions, if the contribution stood paid after the date of filing of returns, it stood disallowed. Full Article

Corporate India is not the sole critic of the Direct Taxes Code. The code, precursor to a brand new income tax law, has found opposition from within government, too. An internal committee of the Central Board of Direct Taxes, the principal policy-maker in the domain, has called for a thorough review of the code, including a revision of the income tax slabs and the definition of 'income from salaries'. Full Article

It’s Traditionally  been viewed as a retirement saving tool and one that allows you to avail of tax deductions. In fact, you will find that most conversations about provident funds only take place during the income-tax filing season, or when salaried individuals are retiring or leaving one organisation for another. In fact, fairly little is [...] Full Article

The Direct Tax Code is a bit of a mixed bag for individuals, particularly the salaried class. Prima facie, the tax liability will reduce significantly as the draft code proposes to tax incomes up to Rs 10 lakh at 10%, that between Rs 10 lakh and Rs 25 lakh at 20% and sum in excess [...] Full Article

From April 1, 2011, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee has proposed to simplify the income-tax regime by reducing the tax rates on incomes above Rs1.6 lakh per annum (Rs1.9 lakh for women, and Rs2.4 lakh for senior citizens), but the reduced rates will come with few of the current exemptions. Full Article