The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) is expected to retain the interest rate for its six crore account holders at 8.5% in 2010-11, with a formal announcement likely to be made in August. "I hope that the recommendation of 8.5% by the finance and investment committee of the EPFO will be retained," Central Provident Fund Commissioner S Chatterjee said. "The EPF rate will hopefully be finalised in the next EPF Board meeting, which is expected in August," he said. Asked if there was any shortfall in return from the current payout of 8.5%, Chatterjee said there was no deficit.
DDT is deducted when a non-equity fund declares dividends. Equity and balanced fund dividends are tax-free The AMC is correct to deduct the dividend distribution tax (DDT) as it is mandated by tax laws. DDT in mutual funds is deducted every time a non-equity fund declares dividends. Equity fund and balanced fund dividends are tax-free . It is possible that you have invested in a non-equity fund for the first time or have received the dividend under a non-equity fund for the first time. That is why this is the first occasion when you have come across DDT. The rate at which non-equity schemes deduct DDT has also gone up after the July 2014 budget. This is due to a change in calculation methodology. Earlier, if the fund has to declare a dividend of R 100, it used to make a provision for R 128.3, paying R 28.3 to the taxman and distributing the balance to the investor. This allowed the investor to bear less tax since the effective tax rate was 22.07 per ce...
