I’m sure you must have tried to meet your tax saving targets throughout the F.Y. But in the end, it is likely that you still need to push a little to compensate for that windfall bonus and the increment this year. Even if no bonus or increment happened don’t worry, just see if you have utilised your tax saving limits completely. If not, use the following tax saving options to save additional tax within few minutes.
- Online Life Insurance Plans
Online life insurance plans are great options to choose even if you are an NRI. Many insurers also offer separate NRI insurance plans, to fulfil their needs better. However, there is no difference in the tax incident of these NRI investments. The NRI insurance plans include the following life insurance plans:
- Term Insurance
- Unit Linked Insurance Plans
- Traditional Savings and Moneyback plans
- Pension Plans
Even if some of these are not available online, most insurers will be happy to send their representative. Provided you are in India while buying. NRIs can remit the bonus payments, and maturity amounts to the foreign country. However, insurers may prefer to pay the bonus in Indian currency into NRE or NRO accounts.
- 5 Year Bank FDs
Another easy choice to quickly complete your 80C limits this year is through your bank. Many banks offer 5-year tax saving FDs through online banking portals. Just a note of caution, however, not all 5-year fixed deposits give you 80C deduction benefit. So, don’t forget to check with the bank.
Also, this 5-year FD comes with a 5-year lock in period (hence the name). Meaning, you cannot break the FD before maturity, nor you can use the FD for a lien. Thus, keep in mind these conditions before committing.
The bank may deduct tax on the yearly interest credited on your fixed deposit. These FDs only offer tax deduction under section 80C, any interest accrued, and maturity value is taxable for the investor.
- ELSS Funds
ELSS (Equity Linked Savings Schemes) funds are tax saving mutual funds. These are pure equity mutual funds which are 80C eligible. The catch is only with the short lock in period, which is off three years. Equity investments, usually, should be avoided for a short period. However, if you already know that and are planning to keep the investment for a long period ELSS could be just perfect.
Maturity value or withdrawals after the lock in the period are not taxable. Most mutual fund houses and many aggregators offer ELSS investments online.
- Health Insurance Plans
Health insurance plans also provide tax deduction under section 80D. Eligible plans are:
- Family Mediclaim Cover
- Mediclaim Cover for Parents
- Critical Illness cover for self and parents
- Heart and Cancer insurance plans
Few conditions you can keep in mind about health plans:
- Family Mediclaim offers you a maximum deduction of Rs. 25,000 where the family will include spouse and kids
- Mediclaim insurance for parents can avail you an extra deduction of Rs. 25,000 or Rs. 30,000 if parents are a senior citizen (above 60 years of age)
- Critical insurance plans must be bought separately for all the family members (if covering the entire family)
- Critical insurance covers may not be available to people beyond 65 years of age
- Critical insurance premium can be clubbed with Mediclaim premium for this deduction
Heart insurance plans, cancer insurance plans, and critical illness plans are available as riders with Mediclaim and life insurance plans. These are not investment plans, and only cover the diseases and hospitalisation expenses as listed in the insurance document.
The premiums for these plans can change as you age. But buying the plan now will ensure that the plan will be past the waiting period for many health risks which are not covered from day one. Also, insurers offer incremental sum assured benefit for each claim free year.
Less than a month is left to minimise your tax liability for the financial year 2018-19. Given the shortage of time best way to invest money is through online investments. Whether you are looking for NRI insurance plans or ELSS investments, you can complete your tax saving goals online within minutes.