Skip to main content

Tax Planning: Claim tax relief for arrears or advance salaries

 
   ANY income due or received by an employee from his employer or former employer is taxable under the head 'salaries' as per the provisions of the Income Tax Act, 1961. It is pertinent to note that the salary earned in respect of a particular financial year is subject to tax as per the tax rates applicable for that financial year.


   There are occasions when an employee may receive income in a particular financial year, which relates to earlier financial years i.e., as arrears of salary or he may receive certain payments in advance for future financial years i.e., as advance salary.


   In such an event, it is possible that if the entire income is added to the salary income of that financial year, then the tax payer may have to pay tax at a higher rate depending on the slab rates under which his income is otherwise taxable.


   In such a case, there is a relief provided under the Act to ensure that the employee is not worse off.

Arrears/Advance Salary

Where a tax payer receives a sum in the nature of salary being paid in arrears or in advance or receives in any financial year salary for more than twelve months or receives profits in lieu of salary or family pension paid in arrears due to which his total income is taxable at a rate more than the rate at which it would otherwise had been taxable then he may claim relief in respect of tax rates. Besides, certain other receipts like gratuity received for past services, compensation received from the employer or former employer on termination of the employment, payment received in commutation of pension, etc are also eligible for the purposes of said relief, subject to certain conditions. The said relief is to be claimed in the financial year in which the extra payment by way of arrears, advance is taxed. Broadly, the relief under these provisions is arithmetic in nature, as it involves finding out two rates of taxes. The first is the rate of tax applicable to the total income including the extra amount in the year of receipt. Second is finding out the rate by adding the arrears to the total income of the year to which they relate.

Exceptions To Tax Relief

There has been a difference of view whether relief under this provision could be claimed; when the tax payer has also claimed benefit / exemption under some other provision under the Act. It has now been specified that no such relief can be availed in respect of the amount received by the tax payer on his voluntary retirement or termination of service if an exemption in respect of the same has been claimed otherwise by the tax payer under some other provision.

Furnishing Of Particulars For Claiming The Relief

The tax payer is required to furnish the particulars in respect of the above relief to his employer in the specified form so that the same could be considered in respect of his tax calculations.


   This is a beneficial provision in case of payments received by an employee from his employer/former employer for more than one financial year especially when due to these additions, the tax payer's slab rate moves upward or when there is a variation in tax rates in different financial years. Therefore, when salary/other specified payments are received in arrears or in advance, the benefit could be availed of by the tax payer by paying due attention to the relief provisions as specified above.

 

Popular posts from this blog

Am you Required to E-file Tax Return?

Download Tax Saving Mutual Fund Application Forms Invest In Tax Saving Mutual Funds Online Buy Gold Mutual Funds Leave a missed Call on 94 8300 8300   Am I Required to 'E-file' My Return? Yes, under the law you are required to e-file your return if your income for the year is Rs. 500,000 or more. Even if you are not required to e-file your return, it is advisable to do so for the following benefits: i) E-filing is environment friendly. ii) E-filing ensures certain validations before the return is filed. Therefore, e-returns are more accurate than the paper returns. iii) E-returns are processed faster than the paper returns. iv) E-filing can be done from the comfort of home/office and you do not have to stand in queue to e-file. v) E-returns can be accessed anytime from the tax department's e-filing portal. For further information contact Prajna Capit...

IDFC - Long term infrastructure bonds - Tranche 2

IDFC - Long term infrastructure bonds What are infrastructure bonds? In 2010, the government introduced a new section 80CCF under the Income Tax Act, 1961 (" Income Tax Act ") to provide for income tax deductions for subscription to long-term infrastructure bonds and pursuant to that the Central Board of Direct Taxes passed Notification No. 48/2010/F.No.149/84/2010-SO(TPL) dated July 9, 2010. These long term infrastructure bonds offer an additional window of tax deduction of investments up to Rs. 20,000 for the financial year 2010-11. This deduction is over and above the Rs 1 lakh deduction available under sections 80C, 80CCC and 80CCD read with section 80CCE of the Income Tax Act. Infrastructure bonds help in intermediating the retail investor's savings into infrastructure sector directly. Long term infrastructure Bonds by IDFC IDFC issued an earlier tranche of these long term infrastructure bonds on November 12, 2010. This is the second public issue of long-te...

Section 80CCD

Top SIP Funds Online   Income tax deduction under section 80CCD Under Income Tax, TaxPayers have the benefit of claiming several deductions. Out of the deduction avenues, Section 80CCD provides t axpayer deductions against investments made in specific sector s. Under Section 80CCD, an assessee is eligible to claim deductions against the contributions made to the National Pension Scheme or Atal Pension Yojana. Contributions made by an employer to National Pension Scheme are also eligible for deductions under the provisions of Section 80 CCD. In this article, we will take a look at the primary features of this section, the terms and conditions for claiming deductions, the eligibility to claim such deductions, and some of the commonly asked questions in this regard. There are two parts of Section 80CCD. Subsection 1 of this section refers to tax deductions for all assesses who are central government or state government employees, or self-employed or employed by any other employers. In...

ULIP Review: ProGrowth Super II

  If you are interested in a death cover that's just big enough, HDFC SL ProGrowth Super II is something worth a try. The beauty is it has something for everybody — you name the risk profile, the category is right up there. But do a SWOT analysis of the basket, and the gloss fades     HDFC SL ProGrowth Super II is a type-II unit-linked insurance plan ( ULIP ). Launched in September 2010, this is a small ticket-size scheme with multiple rider options and adequate death cover. It offers five investment options (funds) — one in each category of large-cap equity, mid-cap equity, balanced, debt and money market fund. COST STRUCTURE: ProGrowth Super II is reasonably priced, with the premium allocation charge lower than most others in the category. However, the scheme's mortality charge is almost 60% that of LIC mortality table for those investing early in life. This charge reduces with age. BENEFITS: Investors can choose a sum assured between 10-40 times the annualised premium...

Mutual Fund Review: HDFC Index Sensex Plus

  In terms of size, HDFC Index Sensex Plus may be one of the smallest offerings from the HDFC stable. But that has not dampened its show, which has beaten the Sensex by a mile in overall returns   HDFC Index Sensex Plus is a passively managed diversified equity scheme with Sensex as its benchmark index. The fund also invests a small proportion of its equity portfolio in non-Sensex scrips. The scheme cannot boast of an impressive size and is one of the smallest in the HDFC basket with assets under management (AUM) of less than 60 crore. PERFORMANCE: Being passively managed and portfolio aligned to that of the benchmark, the performance of the index fund is expected to follow that of the benchmark and in this respect, it has not disappointed investors. Since its launch in July 2002, the fund has outperformed Sensex in overall returns by good margins.    While every 1,000 invested in HDFC Index Sensex Plus in July 2002 is worth 6,130 now, a similar amount invested in Sensex then wo...
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