rediffGURU Samkit Maniar answers readers' personal income tax queries.
The Financial Intelligence Unit-India (FIU-India), the national agency responsible for analysing suspicious financial transactions, has received requests from four more offshore crypto exchanges to operate in India again, said a senior government official familiar with the matter. In the beginning of 2024, India had banned nine crypto exchanges - Binance, Kucoin, Huobi, Kraken, Gate.io, Bitstamp, MEXC Global, Bittrex, and Bitfenix - for non-compliance with anti-laundering law in the country.
There are a number of steps taken that will leave more money in the hands of the taxpayers.
These include the reduction in tax rates under the new tax regime, increase in standard deduction, allowing tax collected at source to be adjusted against tax deducted at source from salaries, notes Harsh Roongta.
As many as 44 shareholders of Flipkart sold their holdings to Walmart. The income tax law requires the buyer to withhold tax while making payment to the sellers, in case they are not exempted from levy of capital gains tax.
Shigeru Ishiba is expected to prioritise strengthening Japan's military capabilities and fostering deeper international partnerships, particularly with India, with whom Japan shares significant strategic interests, explains Dr Rajaram Panda.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi today promised to review and reform of the taxation system in the country, saying the existing structure is a burden on common man.
Invest in MFs for liquidity and choice of funds. Invest in NPS for the tax benefits, tax-free rebalancing, and for earmarked savings for retirement.
'At present, hybrids emit lesser carbon despite using fuel than pure play electric cars.' 'That is because EVs have to be charged and 76 per cent of the country's electricity is still coal-based and not renewables.'
Hybrid mutual fund (MF) offers, expected to drive higher investor interest after the change in debt fund taxation, are set to end 2023 with the slowest account growth in the past three years. Investment accounts in hybrid funds are up 5.7 per cent so far in 2023 compared with 7.6 per cent in 2022 and 20 per cent in 2021, shows the data from the Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi). In 2020, the count had dipped 2.4 per cent.
Govt may not announce any new concessions in excise duty
Following alterations in the tax structure, mutual fund (MF) schemes that invest in overseas securities have experienced a sharp decline in inflows. In the first five months of 2023-24 (FY24), international MF schemes have received an average monthly gross inflow of only Rs 270 crore, compared to Rs 490 crore during the same period in the previous year. This decline persists despite nearly all fund houses opening subscriptions for such schemes, with higher redemptions creating headroom for fresh investments.
'Exposure to small and midcap stocks exceeded desired levels in many portfolios, prompting rebalancing.'
'If an individual makes significant financial investments, she should stick to the old regime.' 'If the individual prefers straightforward computation without any tax benefits, the new regime would be suitable.'
Hospitality players want the government to accord infrastructure status to hotels to make investments on new properties more attractive rather than categorising them as luxury or even 'sin goods' in the upcoming Union Budget considering the sector's potential to play a key role in India's growth. They also want the government to consider incentives in the form of tax breaks or subsidies for adopting sustainable and eco-friendly practices, while asserting that the upcoming budget must accelerate the tourism agenda saying it is an opportunity to make Indian hospitality the emerging engine for GDP growth and employment generation.
Taxpayers seeking to save tax from the sale of gold (including inherited) should reinvest the capital gains in residential property to avail of the benefit provided by Section 54F.
India Inc on Thursday pitched for lowering income tax burden on common man, increase in capital expenditure, and firm steps to contain food inflation in their nearly two-hour long interaction with finance minister Nirmala Shitharaman ahead of the Union Budget. During pre-Budget consultation with Sitharaman, the industry leaders and associations also urged the government to focus more on infrastructure development with a view to maintaining the economic growth momentum. The industry leaders also laid stress on boosting the MSME (micro, small, and medium enterprises) sector, considered a backbone of the Indian economy and main employment generator.
An income tax tribunal held that the amount received by Google Ireland from Google India towards marketing and distribution rights of the AdWords programme is not royalty, and hence, cannot be taxed at the hands of the assessee (Google Ireland). The ruling by the Bengaluru-based Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) may have repercussions on similar transactions by multinationals, feel experts. Explaining the case, Amit Maheshwari, tax expert at AKM Global, said Google Ireland had received Rs 8,662.93 crore under the Google Reseller Agreements.
Taxation and intellectual property rights issue are some basic starting point impediments for US businesses in India, a top Indian-American CEO said on Monday.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, along with her team of bureaucrats, delved into the fine print of the 2024-25 Budget documents in a press conference, detailing the government's road map on bringing down the debt-to-GDP ratio and bold tax measures.
'Investors should do proper analysis before putting in their money in NFOs as most new launches are in the high-risk thematic space.'
'We have now drastically simplified it, primarily to two rates in long-term capital gains: 20% and the applicable rates. Similarly, in short-term capital gains.' 'For listed shares, there is a slight increase, but for unlisted shares, where indexation benefits are removed, there is a reduction in rates, benefiting unlisted companies, venture capital firms, etc.' 'Similarly, in real estate, wherever returns are higher, the new structure is beneficial. In very few cases, returns are lower, and those are more of an exception.'
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday announced income tax relief for the middle class, a Rs 2 lakh crore outlay for job creation schemes over the next five years and a spending splurge for states run by her party's new coalition partners as she unveiled the Modi 3.0 government's first budget after the general elections.
A portfolio can be rebalanced by either selling a portion of the outperforming asset class or by buying more of the underperforming asset class.
Hybrids have helped Maruti acquire leadership in SUVs, a segment that was never its forte. Toyota has also risen with the hybrid tide to clock its highest-ever annual sales in 2023.
In the case of double-income couples, not more than 40 per cent of the net income of one partner should be the EMI for the property.
Foreign portfolio investors (FPI) have pulled out $3.5 billion from India's equity markets so far this month. The selling comes on the back of election-induced volatility and the rotation of flows from India to China, where stocks are available at half the valuations. If the selling pressure remains at the current level, this will be the highest FPI pullout since January 2023.
Kotak Mahindra Bank on Saturday reported a 25 per cent growth in its March quarter net profit at Rs 5,302 crore, limited by a drop in the core income due to narrow interest margins. On a standalone basis, the city-headquartered lender's Q4 net profit grew 18 per cent to Rs 4,133 crore. The FY24 consolidated net profit grew 22 per cent to Rs 18,213 crore.
Acknowledging that effective taxation of mobile income is a key challenge, G20 leaders including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday vowed to take steps to change rules to tackle tax avoidance, harmful practices and aggressive tax planning.
Do not keep a large portion of your long-term portfolio in FDs.
'Ideally, one should not time SIPs.' 'If people churn their SIP portfolios, then they are equating the concept of SIPs to lump sums.'
The regulatory gap between crypto firms registered with the Financial Intelligence Unit-India (FIU-India) and unregistered offshore entities is expected to narrow, industry players said, after global crypto players Binance and KuCoin received approvals to register with India's anti-money laundering unit.
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rediffGURU Vivek Lala answers your income tax and personal finance queries.
'Every year, the marble industry is shrinking due to tiles. It has already decreased by 20-25 per cent in recent years.'
Fund houses are exploring ways to differentiate themselves in the hybrid space. A relatively unknown hybrid fund variant, Balanced Hybrid, is about to see its first launch since the introduction of mutual fund (MF) scheme categorisation norms in 2017. WhiteOak Capital MF has filed papers with the regulator for this scheme, which comes amid increasing interest in the hybrid space. MFs anticipate that hybrids will become the preferred category for investors with a lower risk appetite following changes in debt fund taxation.
Dwaipayan Bose examines the seven important factors that investors about exchange traded funds must know before they start investing/trading in them.
'Like every Budget, this time, too, there is chatter around tinkering with the long-term capital gains tax.' 'Investors may not want to jump into the markets until there is clarity on this front.'
'If you invest in sovereign gold bond, you are going to get the price rise of gold over an eight year period.' 'You're also going to get that two-and-a-half percent which the Government of India is willing to give you, treating the money that you've invested in the sovereign gold bond as a kind of a FD or a deposit.' 'That kind of return you can never get anywhere else.'
Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) from Mauritius may face higher scrutiny after the amendment in the India-Mauritius tax treaty introduced a principle purpose test (PPT) to prevent treaty abuse by taxpayers. The Mauritius government had in February decided to amend the double taxation avoidance agreement (DTAA) with India to align with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's proposal on base erosion and profit shifting. Although the agreement between India and Mauritius was signed on March 7, the protocol of the amendment was made public for the first time on Wednesday, said legal experts.
