I sold my house recently and do not plan to buy a new one. How will my tax liability work out? Is there any way of saving tax on this amount?
Gains on sale of your house will get taxed under the head of capital gains.
If this property was held for more than three years, then in calculating the capital gains, the cost of acquisition will be allowed to be indexed based on the cost inflation index of the year of acquisition and the year of sale.
The capital gains will be considered exempt from tax if the whole or a part of such gains is invested, within six months after the date of sale, in specified bonds issued by the National Highways Authority of India or Rural Electrification Corporation Limited.
I missed filing my tax returns last year. Can I file returns for this year and the previous year together? If I can, what is the process? Will I be charged penalties?
If an assessee has not filed his return for a particular assessment year, he can file a belated return under Section 139(4), before one year from the end of the relevant assessment year.
If you have not filed return for the financial year 2010-2011 (i.e. assessment year 2011-2012), you can file a belated one by March 31, 2013.
However, if the return is not filed before the end of the assessment year i.e. by March 31, 2012, the tax officer may levy a penalty of Rs 5,000.
Further, if the tax due on the return has not yet been paid, there will be interest payable on it.
More From This Section
At the time of quitting a company, my son had to pay two months' salary and this was not showed as deduction in Form 16. His new employer reimbursed that amount. Will this be taxable? Or, will it be treated as reimbursement of expenses (like reimbursement of tour expenses) and not be taxable, as it isn't income and there is no gain? Alternatively, while filing tax returns, can we deduct the notice pay from the salary received from the previous employer and include the reimbursement as salary received from the new one to pay tax on it? Also, mention relevant sections of the Income Tax Act and case laws for reference in such cases.
The notice pay reimbursed to your son by his new employer will be taxable in his hands as profits in lieu of salary (Section 17(3)(iii)).
No, deduction can be claimed in respect of the notice pay paid to the earlier employer, since there is no provision in the Income Tax Act to deduct the notice pay from the salary taxable.
The writer is a partner at Deloitte, Haskins & Sells. Views expressed are his own. Send your queries at yourmoney@bsmail.in