Income Tax Helpline: Top 5 tips to ensure taxman does not take more of your money, or slap Rs 10,000 penalty on you

Income Tax Helpline: The last date for income tax return (ITR) filing is August 31st, which is just a few days away. Therefore, to avoid any kind of last-minute rush, it's advisable to file the ITR a few days before rather than prolonging it to the last date of the given deadline. Moreover, missing the August 31st deadline would mean a penalty of Rs 10,000 that you would have to pay. 

So, rather than paying this penalty, one should think of getting income tax benefits in a maximised manner. However, to get the taxman to minimise your income tax outgo, you need to know certain things. So, we are giving you the top 5 tips to maximise your income tax exemption benefits and this will ensure that the taxman does not take huge chunks of your income.

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1] List of investments in Section 80C

Under Section 80C of the Income Tax Act, a taxpayer can claim income tax exemption on up to Rs 1.5 lakh investments. In this section PPF, NPS, ELSS Mutual Funds, tuition fee of your child etc. are liable for tax benefit. So, if you are falling short of Rs 1.5 lakh limit, you should think of increasing your investment limits in PPF or may think of choosing the voluntary provident fund under the EPFO rules.

2] Expenses under Section 80D

Under the Section 80D of Income Tax Act, an income tax payer can claim an exemption for the medical insurance premium paid up to Rs 50,000 for his family. The individual can increase this limit further if he or she pays the medical insurance premium for his or her parents as well provided their parents haven't claimed the Section 80D tax benefit in their ITR.

3] Interest paid on home loans

Under Section 80EE of the Income Tax Act, one can claim tax benefit of up to Rs 50,000 home loan interest payments while under Section 24, an additional tax benefit of up to Rs 2 lakh home loan interest payment is allowed. If the taxpayer has taken a home loan in the same financial year, processing fee on a home loan can also be added in it.

4] Section 80TTA

Under the Section 80TTA of the Income Tax Act, an individual or Hindu Undivided Family (HUF) account holder can claim tax exemption on up to Rs 10,000 income as interest accrued into their saving bank account, post office account of the co-operative society. For further information to the readers, this tax deduction is not applicable on bank FD, RD or interest income accrued through corporate bonds.

5] House Rent

If an employee is not getting HRA from its recruiter and still paying the house rent, they can claim income tax exemption under Section 80GG for the entire house rent they paid in a year. So, please check your salary slip before filing your ITR by August 31.