Associate Financial Planner Monika Halan is Consulting Editor Personal Finance with the Indian Express. She specialises in issues relating to individual finances and helps readers, viewers and students decode the financial sector. She is also a guest faculty teaching post-graduates the nuances of financial planning, occasional trains financial intermediaries and is a speaker on personal finance. Here is the full text of the live chat with her on www.financialexpress.com on personal finance related queries after the presentation of the Union Budget on 28th February.
sbhamidi asks The FM proposed a 1 Lakh limit for savings for all sections. What type of investments would be considered as savings?
Monika says the same instruments that you were using before can be used. The notified pension products come under this as well now. there are no sectoral limits. You can put the entire one lakh in any product
rajankasture asks Hi Monika, what does fringe benefit mean here? , do benefits I get like HRA, Professional development allowance etc still give me tax benefits
Monika says fringe benefits here mean any group benefits provided by your employer, excluding food and transport. the employer will have to pay a tax on this benefit as it will be treated as a perk
rajankasture asks Hi Monika- in which cases will company have to pay fringe benefits tax of 30%
Monika says answered earlier
mrjmr asks How do you feel people will react to the cash withdrawal tax
Monika says They are already reacting very loudly. The angst is about the Rs 10,000 limit, had he taxed cash withdrawals over 50,000 or one lakh, people may not have had a problem. one way out is to use your credit card or cheque book if you can instead of paying cash
rajansrinivas asks I am a practising lawyer. I have two queries about the new budget announcements of the FM. Is the tax exemption upto Rs.1 lakh is confined to only salaried class or even professionals like me?
Monika says The budget papers are still to be read fully, but it seems to all people. we will actually have to read the fine print to answer this
asks Hi there!! I am a salaried professional. This fiscal year I saved 94000 including PF (34000), Housing Principal (20000), LIC (40000) apart from this 10000 in Pension plan sec. 80ccc. Let me know what would still be applied in the new fiscal year...?
Monika says the next year will see the tax changes come into effect.
nilu_j asks Hi Monika This is Jalesh. I have one specific question what will be the tax implication under Sec 80 CCC (i)
Monika says 80ccc, contributions to notified pension products are tax deductible up to a limit of Rs 10,000. This is now gone, but you can still make this investment and get an over all deduction under the Rs 1 lakh limit
nilu_j asks I am working with Insurance company as Trainer, I would like to know the benefits that will be available now to the investors of all groups...
Monika says all products as before, but the individual product ceilings and limits are gone. Much easier to calculate and pay tax now
gm77 asks What type of savings are included under Rs 1,00,000? will it include insurance premium and pension policy payments(80CCC)?
Monika says hi, this has already been answered - all products that were earlier under s 88 continue to be in this limit
wenkat_venkat asks Hi Monika, If My Taxable income 6,00,000 PA, How much tax benefits I can get from previous year
Monika says Hi, we did some numbers and find substantial tax benefits across all income categories. You will now pay about Rs 92,000, whereas you would have paid Rs 1.4 (about that much) before this budget.
sandeep_rci asks pre-budget salary is 2.6 lakh. IT paid Rs.42K. What will IT after post-budget?
Monika says You will pay about 4-5000 tax now (if you put an additional Rs 10,000 in mediclaim and use the full Rs 1 lakh deduction)
subala73 asks Hi there is amount paid as conveyance allowance exceeding Rs800 per month still taxable or is conveyance allowance totally tax free from the coming financial year
Monika says Hi, not read the fine print yet, but it seems that 800 limit will remain. FM did not say anything about this specifically.
sify_sreeni asksHi there!! I am a salaried professional. this fiscal year I saved 94000 including PF (34000), Housing Principal(20000), LIC (40000) apart from this 10000 in Pension plan sec. 80ccc. Let me know what would still be applied in the new fiscal year...?
Monika says Hi. The Section 88 rebate amounting to Rs 20,000 is gone. But you still get the interest tax kick you go earlier. All other products will come under the Rs 1 lakh umbrella that will shave your taxable income by the amount of investments you make, subject to a ceiling of Rs 1 lakh
gm77 asks what is included in Rs. 1,00,000 savings? Does it include insurance premium and pension premium (80CCC)?
Monika says Hi, we've spoken about this already
