Budget 2024: How your personal tax rules may be affected

Interim Budget 2024: Here's a look at ways in which your personal tax could be impacted through the Interim Budget 2024

The budget session of Parliament began on Wednesday and will be the last session of the present Lok Sabha with general elections likely to take place in April-May this year. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is set to present the interim budget on February 1, marking her sixth consecutive year in the role. Here's a look at ways in which your personal tax could be impacted through the Interim Budget 2024:

1. Basic exemption limit- The budget could likely raise the basic exemption limit by at least ₹50,000 under both the regimes. An increase in basic exemption limit will reduce the tax liability across all taxpayers.
2. National Pension Scheme- Currently, an employee is allowed deduction of the whole of the contribution made during the financial year into notified a pension scheme. But this cannot exceed- 14% of salary, where such contribution is made by central or state government employees or 10% of salary, in case of other employees. The government could end disparity in these two brackets.
3. Standard deduction- Under the current Income Tax provision, a standard deduction of ₹50,000 is allowed to a salaried taxpayer. It is expected that the Budget could consider increasing the standard deduction for salaried employees from ₹50,000 to ₹1,00,000.
4. TDS for home buyers where seller is NRI- Currently,1% of the purchase value needs to be deposited as TDS in case of resident home seller with the government, where the property value is ₹50 lakhs or more. A simpler TDS process could be expected to this effect in the Budget.

Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman (HT File)