Skip to main content

Higher Taxes on Debt Funds

 

Higher Taxes on Debt Funds



With a longer minimum holding period for non-equity funds to claim tax benefits, bank deposits may turn attractive again

GOOD DAYS ARE clearly over for the debt investors. Individuals who used to park money in short-term debt schemes and fixed maturity plans (FMPs) to earn better post tax returns will have to pay more taxes now. The finance minister has proposed to hike long term capital gains tax on debt mutual funds to 20% from 10% and the holding period to 36 months from 12 months.


Investment experts believe that investors in gold funds will also be impacted by the new proposal.

Many individuals, especially those in the high net worth category, used to prefer mutual fund schemes over bank fixed deposits as interest earned on bank FDs are taxed at rates applicable to the individual.
This meant an individual in the higher tax bracket would pay 30% tax on interest earned from bank FDs. This makes investments in debt schemes with an investment time frame of less than 36 months unattractive, which includes popular fixed maturity plans.

Investors shouldn't totally give up on debt funds because of the new tax proposal. "Due to high inflation, it is likely that if you invest in debt funds with a three year horizon, using indexation method, your post tax returns could still be higher than that offered by bank fixed deposits," she says. Some experts feel that investors should take a look at arbitrage funds as they can offer better post-tax returns. Arbitrage funds, as the name suggests, look for the arbitrage opportunity between different markets. They are treated as equity oriented funds for taxation purpose. That means investments held over a year would not attract any taxes. Investors with no risk appetite and with an investment horizon of between one and three years can consider investing in arbitrage funds. The changes proposed in dividend distribution taxes would further hurt debt investors. DDT was on net dividend distributed while it will now be on gross d i v i d e n d d i s t r i b u t e d. She says investors will be taxed higher as the earlier effective DDT was 25.36% while now it will be 33.99% (including surcharge and cess).

The budget proposal to increase the investment limit under section 80 C is good news for fans of tax saving mutual fund schemes. The 80 C limit has been increased to `1.5 lakh from `1 lakh. Investors should make the most of additional investments of `50,000 allowed under section 80C by picking up the right schemes. These funds can be a good wealth creation tool in addition to saving tax.

Rajiv Gandhi Equity Savings Scheme (RGESS) is available for some more time. Many investment experts were expecting the new government to give it a quite burial, but the budget was silent on it.

First time equity investors looking to save taxes in addition to Section 80C can consider investing in Rajiv Gandhi Equity Savings Scheme (RGESS).

Investors with a gross annual income of `12 lakh or less can invest up to `50,000 under Section 80CCG in the scheme every year, and can claim tax benefits for a period of three years. Investors have the option of buying stocks from BSE 100, NSE CNX 100, Maharatnas or Navratnas or ETFs specified under the scheme.

For further information contact Prajna Capital on 94 8300 8300 by leaving a missed call

Leave a missed Call on 94 8300 8300

Leave your comment with mail ID and we will answer them

OR

You can write back to us at

PrajnaCapital [at] Gmail [dot] Com

---------------------------------------------

Invest Mutual Funds Online

Invest Any Mutual Fund Online

Download Mutual Fund Application Forms from all AMCs

Download Mutual Any Fund Application Forms

---------------------------------------------

Best Performing Mutual Funds

    1. Largecap Funds Invest Online
      1. DSP BlackRock Top 100 Fund
      2. ICICI Prudential Focused Blue Chip Fund
      3. Franklin India Bluechip
      4. ICICI Prudential Top 100 Fund

B. Large and Midcap Funds Invest Online

      1. ICICI Prudential Dynamic Plan
      2. HDFC Top 200 Fund
      3. UTI Dividend Yield Fund
      4. Birla Sun Life Front Line Equity Fund
      5. Franklin India Prima

C. Mid and SmallCap Funds Invest Online

      1. Reliance Equity Opportunities Fund
      2. DSP BlackRock Small & Midcap Fund
      3. Sundaram Select Midcap
      4. IDFC Premier Equity Fund
      5. Birla Sun Life Dividend Yield Plus
      6. SBI Emerging Businesses Fund
      7. HDFC Mid-Cap Opportunities Fund
      8. ICICI Prudential Discovery Fund

D. Small and MicroCap Funds Invest Online

      1. DSP BlackRock MicroCap Fund
      2. Franklin India Smaller Companies

E. Sector Funds Invest Online

      1. Reliance Banking Fund
      2. Reliance Banking Fund
      3. ICICI Prudential Banking and Financial Services Fund

F. Tax Saver Mutual Funds Invest Online

1. ICICI Prudential Tax Plan

2. HDFC Taxsaver

      1. DSP BlackRock Tax Saver Fund
      2. Reliance Tax Saver (ELSS) Fund

G. Gold Mutual Funds Invest Online

      1. Relaince Gold Savings Fund
      2. ICICI Prudential Regular Gold Savings Fund
      3. HDFC Gold Fund
      4. Birla Sun Life Gold

H. International funds Invest Online

1. Birla Sun Life International Equity Plan A

2. DSP BlackRock US Flexible Equity

3. FT India Feeder Franklin US Opportunities

4. ICICI Prudential US Bluechip Equity

5. Motilal Oswal MOSt Shares NASDAQ-100 ETF

Popular posts from this blog

Understanding Your Cibil Credit Information Report

   WE ARE all familiar with the anxiety and uncertainty that we feel when applying for a loan. After all, it's the lender who decides whether we can own our dream home, our first car, or whether our children can pursue higher education. In a nutshell, a better life depends on the lender's decisions.    While other factors do play a part in the lender's decision, the Cibil Credit Information Report ( CIR ) plays a crucial role in a lender's decision to approve a loan application.    Previously, lenders would treat all loan seekers equally. Each applicant, if approved by the lender's internal credit policy, would be charged at the same interest rate for a particular loan size and purpose. The lenders would charge a higher interest rate to all the borrowers, in order to compensate for the possible default of a small portion of the loan disbursed. In other words, it's like a professor (the lender) punishing an entire class (borrowers) for the mischief played b...
Read more

Myths about Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs)

1) ETFs Are Similar to Individual Stocks: Like MFs, ETF consist of an underlying portfolio of securities that's designed to follow a specific index or investment strategy. Hence, they are as diversified as various mutual funds. 2) ETFs Only Invest in Equity: Since they are listed on the exchange, the general belief is that ETF only consists of equity asset class. Globally, ETFs are available across asset classes – equity, debt, commodities, real estate and so on. In fact, over the past couple of years, India has also seen the emergence of Gold ETFs. 3) All ETFs Are Index Funds: ETF started as a fund which used to track indices and hence they were branded as index funds that are listed. However, ETFs have progressed rapidly and are no longer associated only with passive index funds. Globally, we have seen the launch of actively-managed ETFs. In India, also we recently saw the emer gence of fundamentally-weighted ETFs on Nifty, which busts the myth that ETFs are index funds and can...
Read more

What are the factors affect the changes in Interest Rate of Fixed Deposits?

  What are the factors affect the changes in rate of Fixed Deposits? Fixed Deposits are now considered to be a very old fashioned method of saving, but still attract many investors since they have guaranteed returns at the end of the tenure of the investment at a decent interest rate. There are various factors that affect the rates of interest for a Fixed Deposit. Policies of the Reserve Bank of India   - The several norms and restrictions posed by the Reserve Bank of India , in order to gain optimum control over credit and inflow and outflow of fund throughout the country. The repo rate changes, cash reserve ration tends to change and these changes affect the banking products like Fixed Deposits, loans etc. Recession   - When unemployment in a country crosses the benchmark set Recession hits, and slowly the country faces an economic slow movement, affecting the purchasing power of the people in the country, forcing the Reserve Bank of India to release more funds in the financial marke...
Read more

REC Tax Free Bond Issue

Tax Saving Mutual Funds Online Current open Infra Bond Application form   Download REC Tax Free Bond Application Forms REC (Rural Electrification Corporation) is going to issue tax free bonds and the issue will open on March 6 2012 and will close on the 12th of March 2012 When you buy 80CCF infrastructure bonds, the amount you invest in those bonds get reduced from your taxable income but in these bonds that's not going to be the case. The interest on these bonds will be tax free and they are similar to the other tax free bonds like the HUDCO, NHAI and PFC issues. For the two of you interested in knowing this – these bonds are tax free under Section 10(15)(iv)(h) of the Income Tax Act. Now on to the issue itself and let's start with the high credit rating that the issue has got. The REC tax free bond issue has been given the highest rating by all issuers since the government owns the majority stake (66.8%) in REC, it has been consistently profit making,  this is a se...
Read more

Good Loan

Why Is It A Good Loan?: Loans against gold are cheaper and better than personal loans as the former are available at lower interest rates. In contrast, the interest rates on personal loans are not standardised and can vary from bank to bank. Also, a personal loan depends on a host of factors including, the borrower's salary, profession and the purpose for which the loan is being taken.      For instance, the interest rate on a personal loan of 5 lakh falls in a wide range of 15-30%. But loans against gold are available for as low as 11%. Secured borrowing such as a loan against gold, investments or property is cheaper because it is backed by some assets, which command a good value at any point of time. If the borrower defaults on the loan, the banks can liquidate the assets to settle the loan account.    Being a secured loan, the risk of default and credit losses is significantly lower in this loan compared to other forms of loan for personal use. Given the lower risk, gold loa...
Read more
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
Invest in Tax Saving Mutual Funds Download Any Applications
Transact Mutual Funds Online Invest Online
Buy Gold Mutual Funds Invest Now