Finance minister Arun Jaitley raised the exemption limit in personal income tax from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 2.5 lakh. He also raised the tax exemption limit for investments to Rs 1.5 lakh from the current Rs 1 lakh under Section 80C of the Income Tax Act.
Not just that, the minister raised the tax deduction limit to Rs 2 lakh from Rs 1.5 lakh on interest for housing loans in case of self-occupied property while the public provident fund (PPF) investment limit has also been raised to Rs 1.5 lakh from the current Rs 1 lakh.
In a nutshell, these measures do not only mean more money in your hands, there will also be more incentives to park it in national savings certificates (NSC), five-year fixed deposits, repayment of principal amount of home loans, children’s tuition fees, specific mutual funds and life insurance premium among other things. The three income tax slabs — at 10%, 20% and 30% — however, have been left undisturbed.
“It is a good budget, as it will leave people with more money, which will offset the inflation burden to a large extent,” said Girish Vanvari, co-head, tax, KPMG. “It will channelise savings, while also leading to a lower tax burden.”
Sunil Shah, partner, Deloitte Haskins & Sells LLP, echoed a similar sentiment. “The enhancement in the personal exemption limits and in the ceiling for savings instruments and interest on house loans will provide relief to individual taxpayers,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}Sunil Shah, partner, Deloitte Haskins & Sells LLP, echoed a similar sentiment. “The enhancement in the personal exemption limits and in the ceiling for savings instruments and interest on house loans will provide relief to individual taxpayers,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}The finance minister also raised the tax exemption limit for senior citizens from Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 3 lakh.
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