Skip to main content

Ten tax saving investment options

 

As the fiscal end comes closer, it is time for investing to save tax.

 

Apart from the regular investment options under Section 80C of the income tax act, this year investors have an added advantage of investing in infrastructure bonds and enjoy an additional deduction in tax under section 80CCF of the Income Tax Act.

 

SECTION 80C DEDUCTIONS: Investment options under Section 80C can be broadly categorised as market linked, fixed income and insurance. The fixed income category includes investment options such as the Public Provident Fund (PPF), Employee Provident Fund (EPF), tax-saving bank fixed deposits, National Savings Certificate (NSC) and senior citizens savings schemes.

While it is the most popular tax saving category, market-linked instruments including tax-saving equity mutual funds (ELSS) and unitlinked insurance plans (ULIPs) are gradually catching up.

 

PUBLIC PROVIDENT FUND (PPF): One of the oldest investment options, PPF scores on all grounds as it is one of the very few investment options that fall under EEE (exemptexempt-exempt) tax regime.

This implies that not only the investor can enjoy deduction on the amount invested in this scheme but the interest received on maturity is also exempt from tax.

PPF offers an interest rate of 8% compounded annually, with the maximum investment restricted to Rs 70,000 a year and mandatory investment tenure of 15 years.

An investment of Rs 70,000 every year in PPF for 15 years will amount to a taxfree maturity sum of Rs 20.5 lakh at the end of the 15 year tenure.

 

EMPLOYEE PROVIDENT FUND (EPF): Under the current norms, 12% of the employee's salary is contributed towards EPF, which is exempt from income tax. Any contribution over and above the 12% limit by the employee towards EPF is consider as voluntary provident fund (VPF) and the same is also exempt from tax, subject to the overall 80C limit of Rs 1 lakh per annum.

Like PPF, EPF, also falls under the EEE tax regime wherein the interest received (on retirement from service) is tax-free in the hands of the investor. The interest payable on EPF is determined each year by the Employee Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO). After having maintained a steady interest rate of 8.5% per annum for quite some time, the EPFO has enhanced the rate of interest to 9.5% for the financial year 2010-11.

While it is still not sure whether such an attractive interest rate will continue in the following years, those who have been contributing to EPF for quite some time now and have accumulated a large corpus are bound to benefit immensely with this year's higher interest as interest is compounded annually.

 

NATIONAL SAVINGS CERTIFICATE: Similar to PPF, NSC also earns an interest rate of 8% per annum and investment up to Rs 1 lakh is exempt from tax under section 80C. However, unlike PPF, interest received on NSC, at the time of maturity, is taxable in the hands of the investor which makes it comparatively less attractive.

On the positive note, however, NSC has a relatively shorter lock-in period of just about 6 years and the interest here is compounded halfyearly. Thus, every Rs 100 invested into NSC will grow to Rs 160.10 on maturity.

 

TAX SAVING BANK FDS: Investment up to Rs 1 lakh in these special tax saving bank fixed deposits also entails an investor tax deduction under Section 80C.

These fixed deposits mandate a lock-in period of five years and interest is compounded quarterly, just like any other ordinary bank fixed deposit.

The drawback is taxability of interest income upon maturity. As most banks are currently offering attractive interest rates, tax-saving bank fixed deposits are currently offering interest rates as high as 8.5% to its investors.

 

SENIOR CITIZENS SAVING SCHEME: Indian citizens who have attained 60 years of age or those who have attained at least 55 years of age and have opted for voluntary retirement scheme are eligible to invest in senior citizens saving scheme, which offers a fairly attractive interest rate of 9% a year, payable on quarterly basis.

While investment in this scheme is eligible for tax deduction under Section 80C, interest earned shall be taxable in the hands of the investor.

 

EQUITY LINKED SAVINGS SCHEME (ELSS): These tax saving mutual fund schemes do carry an embedded market risk and calls for investor prudence before making an investment decision. However, their returns are equally rewarding and tax free in the hands of the investor.

As ELSS has a mandatory lock-in period of three years, they are positioned as long-term equity assets and thus returns are taxfree in the hands of the investor. And though these schemes mandate a threeyear lock-in period, investors are likely to be better off if they continue to stay invested for a longer term as equities generate best returns over a longer time frame.

For instance, on an average, ELSS category of funds has returned about 22% compounded (CAGR) returns per annum over the past 10 year period. Some of the better performing schemes in this category include Canara Robeco Equity Tax Saver, Fidelity Tax Advantage and HDFC Taxsaver for investors to choose from.

LIFE INSURANCE PREMIUM: Any premium payable by an investor to provide cover to his life is also eligible for deduction under Section 80C, subject to a maximum of Rs 1 lakh. The life insurance policy may be purchased either from LIC or from any other private player in the insurance industry.

Investors should, however, make sure that premium payable is not more than 20% of the sum assured (amount of life cover) in order to avail Section 80C deduction.

 

UNIT LINKED INSURANCE PLANS (ULIPS): Ulips, or marketlinked insurance schemes, are also eligible for deduction under Section 80C. As these schemes provide investors the benefit of both life cover and investment in equity and debt markets, these are highly popular with investors.

Investors would, however, do well to check the premiums charged by these schemes before making an investment decision as most Ulips charge high premiums.

 

SECTION 80CCF DEDUCTION: A new Section 80CCF has been inserted in the Finance Bill 2010-11, which provides an additional deduction of Rs 20,000 to investors for investing in infrastructure bonds issued by notified organisations.

This deduction is over and above the Rs 100,000 deduction available under Section 80C. In the latest tranche, infrastructure bonds offer an attractive interest rate of about 8% to investors with a minimum lock-in period of five years.


Some of the best Tax Saving Mutual Funds available ( ELSS Mutual Funds )

  1. ICICI Prudential Tax PlanInvest Online
  2. HDFC TaxSaver Invest Online
  3. DSP BlackRock Tax Saver Fund Invest Online
  4. Reliance Tax Saver (ELSS) Fund Invest Online
  5. Birla Sun Life Tax Relief '96 Invest Online
  6. IDFC Tax Advantage (ELSS) Fund Invest Online
  7. SBI Magnum Tax Gain Scheme 1993 Invest Online
  8. Sundaram Tax Saver Invest Online
  9. Edelweiss ELSS Invest Online


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

Happy Investing!!

We can help. Call 0 94 8300 8300 (India)

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

Transact Mutual Fund Online

Download Mutual Fund Application Forms from all AMCs

Download Mutual Fund Application Forms

Best Performing Mutual Funds

    1. Largecap FundsInvest Online
      1. DSP BlackRock Top 100 Fund
      2. ICICI Prudential Focused Blue Chip Fund
      3. Birla Sun Life Front Line Equity Fund
    2. Large and Midcap FundsInvest Online
      1. ICICI Prudential Dynamic Plan
      2. HDFC Top 200 Fund
      3. UTI Dividend Yield Fund
    1. Mid and SmallCap FundsInvest Online
      1. Reliance Equity Opportunities Fund
      2. DSP BlackRock Small & Midcap Fund
      3. Sundaram Select Midcap
      4. IDFC Premier Equity Fund
    1. Small and MicroCap FundsInvest Online
      1. DSP BlackRock MicroCap Fund
    1. Sector FundsInvest Online
      1. Reliance Banking Fund
      2. Reliance Banking Fund
    1. Gold Mutual Funds Invest Online
      1. Relaince Gold Savings Fund
      2. ICICI Prudential Regular Gold Savings Fund
      3. HDFC Gold Fund

Popular posts from this blog

Birla SunLife Manufacturing Equity Fund

The Make in India program was launched by Prime Minister Naredra Modi in September 2014 as part of a wider set of nation-building initiatives. It was devised to transform India into a global design and manufacturing hub. The primary motive of the campaign is to encourage multinational as well domestic companies to manufacture their products in India. This would create more job opportunities, bring high-quality standards and attract capital along with technological investment to bring more foreign direct investment (FDI) in the country.   Why India as the next manufacturing destination?   The rising demand in India along with the multinational's desire to diversify their production to include low-cost plants in countries other than China, can help India's manufacturing sector to grow and create millions of jobs. In the words of our Honourable Prime Minister- Mr. Narendra Modi, India offers the 3 'Ds' for business to thrive— democracy,...
Read more

Total Returns Index brings out real Equity Funds Performers

From February, equity mutual funds have to change their benchmarks to account for dividend payments. Until now, funds used price-based benchmarks alone. TRI or total return indices assume that dividend payouts are reinvested back into the index. What this does is lift the overall index returns, because dividends get compounded. For example, the Sensex TRI index will consider dividend payouts of its constituent companies while the Nifty50 TRI index will consider dividends of its constituents. Using TRI indices as benchmarks comes on the argument that an equity funds earn dividends on the stocks in its portfolio, which they use to buy more stocks. Therefore, using an index that also considers dividend reinvestment would be a more appropriate benchmark. Shrinking outperformance With a stiffer benchmark, it is obvious that the margin by which an equity fund outperforms the benchmark would shrink. Rolling one-year returns from 2013 onwards, the average margin by which largecap funds out...
Read more

How to generate a UAN Online

Best SIP Funds Online   In order to make Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) accounts portable, the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) had launched the facility of Universal Account Number (UAN ) in 2014. Having a UAN is now mandatory if you have an EPF account and are contributing to it. So far, you got this number from your employer and every time you changed jobs, you had to furnish this number to the new employer.  However, in order to make it easier for you to get a UAN , and without your employer's intervention, the EPFO now allows you to go online and generate a UAN on your own. This facility can be used by freshers, or new employees, who are joining the workforce as well as by employees who have older EPF accounts but do not have a UAN as yet. As a new employee, you can simply generate a UAN and provide the number to your employer at the time of joining, when you need to fill up forms for your EPF contribution. As per a circula...
Read more

Stock Review: Havells

HAVELLS India's stock performance has been muted in the past three months, in line with the weak broader market. But, given the turnaround in its overseas subsidiary and the launch of new products in its consumer durable business, the company's stock may undergo a re-rating.    Havells is India's leading consumer electrical goods company, with consolidated sales of . 5,527 crore in the past four quarters. Its wholly-owned subsidiary Sylvania, which makes lighting and fixtures, has established brands in European, Latin American and Asian markets. Sylvania repre sented nearly half of the company's consolidated revenues in the first half of FY11.    Sylvania's poor financials hit Havells' consolidated performance in FY10. But, this has changed in the cur rent fiscal. Havells has reduced fixed costs of Sylvania by exiting from unprofitable businesses and outsourcing manufacturing to low-cost locations such as India and China. In the September 2010 quarter, Sylv...
Read more

Mutual Fund Review: Reliance Regular Savings Equity

    Despite high churn, Reliance Regular Savings Equity has managed to fetch good returns   In its short history, this one has made its mark. Though its annual and trailing returns are amazing, the fund started off on a lousy note (last two quarters of 2005). It managed to impress in 2006 and was turning out to be pretty average in 2007, till Omprakash Kuckian took over in November 2007 and wasted no time in changing the complexion of the portfolio. Exposure to Construction shot up to 28 per cent with almost 21 per cent cornered by Pratibha Industries and Madhucon Projects . Exposure to Engineering was yanked up (18.50%) while Financial Services lost its prime slot (dropped to 6.69%) and Auto was dumped. That quarter (December 2007), he delivered 54.66 per cent (category average: 25.70%).   When the market collapsed in 2008, thankfully the fund did not plummet abysmally. But even its high cash allocations could not cushion the fall which hovered around the category average. ...
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