Tax savings

The financial year end is fast approaching and blokes who are earning strictly on paper has to file the tax for their previous year. That's a given. So in this income tax filing and saving mayhem you would be approached with lot of mutual fund clients, insurance agents and your ( salary account) bank fund managers who will be having unprecedented interest in your wealth. This guy will call you and say:

"Sir, I am from XYZ bank where you have your salary account with us. We would like to advice you on your funds and give proper guidance on what best possible way you can reduce the tax. What could be the suitable time for you?".

An ideal answer to that question would be, never. Somebody taking over control over my account, accessing the personal details to the minutest - to such an extent that they need even my grandmother's name, wtf, - rattles me to no end. And inturn this bloke asks you, sir how much you spend in a month for living, shopping and shitting. We know mate, how to manage our limited funds. The best possible way to answer them is, ask them to give a demo - not over the phone but in person, listen to what he says and the mutual funds that he would suggest and reply with the best polite answer," I'll get back to you " . Remember that golden phrase in the interview, when you were deprived of your first job which you thought that you nailed it easily and were dreaming?

So I filed the tax for this year. Din't save much. Not to the extent of the tax exemption that is allowed. I prefer to pay tax than to save such a hefty amount. Your heart pounds to save anything. It's hard to save something just because you want to avoid paying tax for that amount. It does help for sure, the savings. You are saving for yourself and you can get your savings back with interest after a minimum lock-in period of three years and importantly, the point that has to be taken is, your savings are not going down the drain as you might think while investing. To me and to most of them, the best way to exempt tax is buy a house on a bank loan and show the annual house interest that you are paying to the bank to the IT department under section 80C . Simplest and the easiest way to get rid of that 1 lac tax exemption.

That has been the first couple of hours of the story in the morning. I am done with my filing and now the it's upto the IT department to do the pay cheque resizing. If you are deducted excess tax during the financial year and have to receive returns from the IT department, boy, forget it. It takes ages here and I am one of the luckiest blokes to get my last year returns back in hand. There are guys who are waiting in the queue and they have lost hope long back the moment they filed their returns. I was one of them until Dhanalakshmi knocked my house with a Govt of India cheque. We plan for our tax very diligently. And that's the only thing in the fiscal year that we are very sure of.