| I was born on January 2, 1943 and will complete 65 years next year. Shall I be eligible for senior citizen benefits for income tax purposes for the financial year 2007-08? |
K. Banerjee, Hooghly |
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| der the Income Tax Act, a senior citizen is a person who at any time during the ‘previous year’ has attained the age of 65 years or more. So, you will be able to claim income tax benefits for senior citizens from the financial year 2008-09 onwards, not before that. |
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| Missing dividend warrant |
| I am a unit holder of UTI’s Master Plus 1991 scheme. The mutual fund has declared a dividend of 80 per cent for 2005-06. I want to know when will I get my dividend warrant? |
Soumen Biswas, Murshidabad |
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| The fund house had announced this dividend in December last. Since you have not got the warrants, it may be that the same could not be delivered to the address given by you. You can contact the UTI’s regional sales office in Calcutta and update your address with them. |
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| Interest income |
| I am a senior citizen and have income only from interests on deposits. Some of these are tax free, while some are taxable. What will be the upper limit of total interests so that my annual income does not attract any tax liability? Do I have to file income tax return regularly since I hold a PAN? |
Prasanta K. Sinha, Burnpur |
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| For senior citizens, the basic exemption limit for 2007-08 has been increased to Rs 1,95,000. If your total annual income is Rs 195,000 or below, you don’t have to pay income tax. Since your income is from interests on deposits only, you can earn as much as Rs 195,000 as interest in a year and you don’t have to pay any income tax. Filing of return for income below the basic exemption limit is voluntary. |
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| It’s a gift |
| I am a retired person. I bought a plot of land in my wife’s name and built a house. I now want to gift that house to my son. Do I need to pay a gift tax? |
Anil Ganguly, Chinsurah |
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| A gift to those with whom you have a blood relation will not attract any gift tax. If the house and the land are both in the name of your wife, only she can gift it. |
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| If you have any queries about investing or taxes or a high-cost purchase you are planning, mail to: btgraph@abpmail.com, or write to: Business Telegraph, 6 Prafulla Sarkar Street, Calcutta 700 001. |
