Tax benefits of investing in mutual funds

Under the equity/debt mutual funds, you invest a fixed sum of money in a scheme either every month or quarter. When you’re investing in a particular mutual fund, the first thing you need to do to assess its returns is to know how it will be taxed. It is the post tax returns that will matter. Article discusses Tax on Mutual Fund Redemption, Mutual Fund Dividend and on Mutual Fund Maturity-

Firstly, you’ve to consider capital gain taxation on mutual funds. Capital gain is the value of appreciation in your asset. If you buy something for Rs 4 Lakh & sell it for Rs 4.5 Lakh, you have made a Capital Gain of Rs 50000. Capital Gains are further divided into short term & long term depending on the period of holding of assets.

Short term capital Gain arises if investment is held for less than 1 year or in simple words sold before completion of 1 year. Long Term Capital Gain arises if investment is sold after 1 year.

Mutual Fund Capital Gain Tax further depends on the type of fund- whether it is equity or debt.

Equity oriented Mutual Funds are defined under Chapter XII-E of Income Tax Act, 1961 (“ITA”), as those mutual funds where equity holding is more than 65% of the total portfolio  and Which has been setup under a scheme of mutual fund specified under section 10 (23D) of ITA.

Mutual funds which invest in other funds & international funds (funds which have more than 35% exposure to international equities) will be kept under debt category for tax purpose.

We will examine the tax issues in the hands of investors investing in mutual funds in – dividends, long term capital gains and short term capital gains and whether you’re eligible for tax deduction on investment in mutual funds.

Mutual fund (MF) and Equity-linked savings scheme (ELSS): Subscription to Tax Saver MFs and ELSSs qualifies for deduction under Section 80C. Investment in ELSS has a lock-in period of 3 years. Pre-mature withdrawals is not allowed under any circumstance

Section 10(35) (a) of ITA states that any income received in respect of the units of mutual funds specified u/s 10(23D) of ITA is exempt from tax. As a result of this provision, the dividend received from equity mutual funds is exempt from tax. By virtue of proviso to section 115 (R) (1) of ITA, equity oriented schemes are now subjected to dividend distribution tax (“DDT”)( Wef A.y 2019-20).  So now DDT has to be paid in the case of non-equity oriented schemes as well as equity oriented schemes

 [1] Have to check the tax rates

TAXATION OF LONG TERM AND SHORT TERM CAPITAL GAINS FROM MF UNITS

Long Term Capital gain on Equity Mutual Funds – if you buy & hold an equity Mutual Fund for more than 1 year, there will be NIL Tax. E.g. If you invest Rs 1 lakh in XYZ Fund & after 1 year, its value is Rs 1.3 Lakh – there will be zero tax on capital appreciation of Rs 30000.This is a very big advantage of equity mutual funds.

However as per the newly inserted section 112A via Finance Act 2018, if the amount of long- term Capital gain exceeds Rs 1,00,000 than the amount in excess of Rs 1,00,000 shall be chargeable to tax @ 10% without indexation  (plus  heath and education cess and surcharge). However the application of sec 112A is subjected to certain conditions, one of it being the transfer should have taken place on or after 1^st April ,2018.

All gains until January 31, 2018 have been “grandfathered”. So you can assume the new cost of holding your Equity Mutual Funds is the closing price on January 31, 2018. The start date of your holding remains the original purchase date.

Short Term Capital gain on Equity Mutual Funds – if you sell equity mutual fund before completion of 1 year you need to pay tax of 15% on capital gains. In the above example where gain was Rs 30000 – if this was a short term capital gain, investor would have paid Rs 4500 as short term Capital Gain.

Note for NRIs – Same capital gain is applicable to NRIs but in case of Short Term Capital Gain there will be a TDS (tax deducted at source). Which means Tax will be deducted by Mutual Fund Company before paying redemption (sell) amount.

In case of individual/ HUFs being residents , where the Total Income, excluding Short Term Capital Gains, is below the maximum amount not chargeable to tax, then the difference between the current maximum amount not chargeable to tax, and total income excluding Short Term Capital Gains, shall be adjusted from capital gains. Therefore, only balance STCG will be liable to income tax at the rate of 15%.

In respect of short term capital gains arising to non resident individual unit holders, the Mutual Fund is required to deduct tax at source @15% +SC+HEC, in case of Equity Funds and @ 30% (SC+HEC) in case of non equity schemes.

Capital Gain Tax on Debt Mutual Funds

In case of Short Term Capital gain on Debt Mutual Funds, any short term capital gain that arises due to selling of debt fund before 36 months will be added to investor’s income. Once it is added to income it will be taxed according to tax slab of that individual.

Long Term Capital gain on Debt Mutual Funds shall be taxed @ 20% with indexation.

Note for NRIs – NRIs will receive their redemption amount only after paying TDS on capital gains:

Short Term – 30% TDS

Long Term – 20% TDS

Health and education cess of 4% will also be applied to this TDS.

On should note that  Surcharge has to be paid  based on the total  income.( 10% if the net income is more than Rs 50 Lakhs  but not more than Rs 1crore & 15% if the net income is more than 1 crore)

(Mr. Vikram Ramchand, Founder at MakeMyReturns.com )

(Republished With Amendments)