Friday, January 3, 2014

Know your rental issues

    *"**Rent Received vis-a-vis Rent paid**"*


    *All of us as human beings have three basic needs Roti, Kapda aur Makaan. *



    *Last one is of special importance as it is the most difficult one to
    acquire and we spend major part of our working life in saving money for the
    same. *



    *The lucky ones who are able to own second property than what they need for
    their own use can get rent from it. But those who are not that lucky and do
    not own even one, can live in one by paying rent. Our income tax laws have
    provisions for both the scenario – where one is taking rent and other where
    one is paying rent with respect to house property. *



    *Tax implication for both the scenarios. *



    *Income tax treatment for rent paid:*



    *The tax benefits available for rent paid in respect of house property
    occupied by you can be classified into two categories – one where the tax
    payer is in receipt of House Rent Allowance popularly known as HRA from
    employer, other where one is not in receipt of any HRA, may be employed
    or self-employed.*



    *Persons in receipt of HRA: *



    *Though full HRA received by you is not always exempt from tax but Income
    Tax Act allows certain exemption in respect of HRA received. The extent to
    which HRA received by you shall be exempt depends on various factors like
    actual rent paid by you, the city you are living in and your salary.
    However in case where though you are in receipt of HRA but are not paying
    any rent, whole of the HRA received by you shall be taxable in your hands. *



    *The exemption shall be least of the following three items. *

    *a) Amount of HRA - House Rent Allowance actually received *

    *b) 50% of your basic salary and dearness allowance in case of person
    residing in any of four metros and 40% of basic salary and dearness
    allowance in other cases.*

    *c) Amount of rent paid by you in excess of 10% of your salary. *



    *Let us understand this with an illustration. *



    *For a person residing in Mumbai whose basic salary inclusive of dearness
    allowances is Rs. 25,000 per month is in receipt of HRA of Rs. 14,000 per
    month. He also pays monthly rent of Rs. 10000. *



    *The extent to which the HRA shall be exempt shall be Rs. 7500/- being
    least of the following: *



    *1. HRA actually received Rs. 14,000*

    *2. 50% of salary Rs. 12,500*

    *3. Rs. 7,500 being rent paid beyond 10% of salary ( rent actually paid Rs.
    10,000 - 10% of salary Rs. 2500 = 7500)*



    *So out of Rs. 14,000 of HRA received only 7500 shall be exempt and the
    balance of Rs. 6,500 shall be taxable. The above working shall be done for
    the number of months for which the employee has paid the rent.*



    *Persons who are paying rent but not in receipt of any HRA: *



    *Section 80GG of the Income Tax Act grants tax benefits to the people who
    though are not in receipt of any HRA are still paying rent for the house
    occupied by them. This provision applies to employed as well as self-
    employed persons. A person shall be allowed deduction in respect of the
    rent paid by him which is in excess of 10% of his total income. However the
    actual amount of deduction i.e. excess of rent paid over 10% of your total
    income should not exceed in case 25% of your total income. However in case
    the deduction so calculated exceeds Rs. 2,000 per month then the amount of
    deduction shall be restricted to only Rs. 2,000 per month,*



    *Let us understand this also with another example: *



    *The rent paid is Rs. 60,000 for the whole year and the total income of the
    person is Rs, 2,50,000. *



    *He will be entitled for a deduction of Rs. 24,00 being least of the three
    calculated as hereunder:*



    *1. Rs. 35,000( i.e. excess of rent paid over 10% of total Income
    60000-25000)*

    *2. Rs. 62,500 (25% of total income)*

    *3. Rs. 24,000 ( Rs. 2,000 per month)*



    *As compared to the benefits available to people who are in receipt of HRA
    the benefit offered to people who are actually not in receipt of any HRA is
    very insignificant which in my opinion is very unjust. The restriction in
    terms of absolute entitlement of Rs. 2,000 per month needs to be revised
    upwardly as the same was fixed in April 1998 and the rentals and real
    estate prices have since gone up manifold.*



    *Tax treatment of rent received:*



    *After having discussed the tax treatment for rent paid by you in respect
    of house property occupied by you, now let us understand the tax treatment
    when you receive the rent in respect of the property owned and let out by
    you. *



    *In case you own a property and have let it out, the rent received by you
    is taxable under the head “Income from house property”. However before such
    income is calculated you are allowed two items to be deducted from the rent
    received. The first deduction is a fixed 30% of the rent received by you.
    The second deduction is in respect of interest paid by you on loan taken
    for the purpose of acquiring, constructing or repairing, renovating the
    house property. There is no restriction on the amount of deduction that is
    available to you in respect of the interest paid on loans for such
    properties. The deduction shall be available in respect of the interest
    payable for the year in respect of the loan taken for the property. The
    deduction of interest is available even if you have borrowed the money from
    your relatives and friends and not necessarily from any bank or housing
    finance company.*


    *Source : Apna paisa*