QUESTION: The Finance Act prescribes a higher exemption limit of Rs. 1.90 lakh only for “every individual, being a resident women in India” vide Item No. II of Part I of the First Schedule of the Finance Act. My non-resident friend go by para 16 of the instruction to Form ITR-2 allowing the higher limit “for women (other than women of age 65 years or more)” and insists that the return Form should prevail.
ANSWER: The reader is right in that there is a mistake in the instruction in the return which should have made it clear that the higher exemption for women is available only for resident women. There is a similar mistake in ITR-1 as well. Though not all law could be condensed in instructions, such glaring omissions should have been avoided.
There is a similar mistake in the case of senior citizens. The Finance Act clearly mentions that the higher exemption limit of Rs. 2.40 lakh is available for “an individual being a resident of India, who is of the age of 65 years or more”, while the instructions in the Forms omit the reference to “resident”.
Source: The Hindu
