Ans: SBI Large and Midcap Fund is a good fund in the category and can be held on to in case you wish to have exposure to this category. But please remember that this category of Large and Midcap Fund will always have at least 35% exposure to midcap stocks which makes it in a higher risk grade. If you wish to continue with the fund, do note the degree of risk you are taking and whether you are comfortable with it.

ICICI Pru Technology Fund is a good fund in the Tech Fund category. However, I do not recommend anybody to have exposure to any sectoral category fund since any sectoral category is typically cyclical in nature. It is always better to have a diversified fund – in case a particular theme or category is likely to do well in times to come, a good fund will anyway add it in the portfolio and hold it there as long as that sector or theme is relevant.

Ans: There are special bank FDs for 5 years which are called as tax saving FDs. They have same characteristics as any other 5 year FDs but are locked in for 5 years. Tax Saver Funds are the ELSS (Equity Linked Saving Funds) Mutual Funds which invest 100% in equity, are locked in for 3 years and will give market linked returns, which in general have been higher than bank FDs. ELSS are also tax efficient. You need to decide how much volatility are you prepared to take and then invest accordingly.

Ans: If your total income is Rs 9 Lakhs, the basic tax saving that you should do is through Income Tax Section 80C which allows you to save tax on contribution upto Rs 1.5 Lakhs per year which can be through a contribution of your EPF, PPF, children tuition fee, insurance premium payment, NSC etc.

If you have any health insurance (though you may not need it), then you can save under section 80D.

There is nothing else that I think you need to do for the current financial year.

For the next financial year, just use some online calculators to check if old or new tax regime is good for you. I think it will be new tax regime, where you do not need to do anything to save tax since the new tax regime itself has low tax for you.

Ans: Your father can be at any order in the property holding (first, second, anything…). His contribution in percentage terms will be counted as his share of the property.

Let us say, out of the Rs 71 Lakhs of the sale price, the Long Term Capital Gains is Rs 33.5 Lakhs and that is the one which is invested as his contribution in the new property that you are buying. So he saves complete tax on LTCG, and his share in the property becomes 10% as 33.5L is 10% of 3.35 Crores.

Ans: The question is not clear. If you are referring to the tax deducted as TDS on the dividend income given to you, then it will automatically show up in your Form 26AS and count towards the overall tax already paid by you. So, when you file your ITR (Income Tax Return), you will get its credit as part of tax already paid.

Ans: There is no deduction for professional tax allowed in the new tax regime.

Ans: You are right. There is no 80C exemption available on the investment done but the income continues to be tax-free as per given provisions.

Ans: It will depend on which financial year are you referring to as they differ during current financial year and next one. The tax slabs are clearly given on various websites. Please google and calculate.

Ans: If your total income in a year is less than Rs 3 Lakhs at your age, you are not required to file any Income Tax Return.

Ans: The old tax regime has not been discontinued and there are no indications if and when it will be discontinued. A\So you can use it as long as you wish to and it is there.

Ans: Yes. It is compulsory for her to file ITR for current financial year

Ans: This will entirely depend on your risk profile, investment horizon, liquidity requirements and your tax bracket.

If FDs and MFs are being compared, then Debt Mutual Funds would be comparable from risk-return perspective to FDs. If you choose the correct category of Debt MFs, then from the perspectives of returns, liquidity and flexibility, Debt MFs would score better. If you stay invested for more than 3 years, you would save a huge amount of tax vis-à-vis FDs. As far as safety is concerned, please choose the correct category like Banking & PSU Funds, and similar categories if you want similar sfety to FDs.

Ans: If I assume the following:-
1. Life expectancy – 90 years
2. Expected Inflation rate – 6%
3. Expected returns on investment 6% post retirement
4. No savings right now (as no data given by you)
You would require about Rs 1.15 Crores.

You should invest it in a combination of safe and growth assets. To know more, read this article by me: https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/personal-finance/bucket-strategies-to-plan-income-from-retirement-corpus-9541101.html

Ans: Please make a proper WILL of your mother. Better to also get it registered in a court. Nothing else is required.

In India, there is no Inheritance tax on such transfers after demise of the concerned person.

Ans: Thank you

Ans: Sorry. I do not have any expertise on this particular subject and I would not be able to answer your question in any comprehensive manner.

However, I did some googling and found these two articles useful. Hope they answer your question to some extent:-

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/et-explains/explained-how-much-your-eps-pension-will-rise-how-to-get-that-all-details-here/articleshow/68716373.cms?from=mdr

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/wealth/invest/factors-you-should-consider-before-opting-for-higher-pension-under-eps-scheme/articleshow/68750384.cms

Ans: The best way to prepare for your retirement which is long time away, 12 years in your case, is to go in for Equity based products.

I do not advise you to go in for direct stocks with this money if you have no idea of the stocks market. Rather you should go in for a good portfolio of Equity Mutual Funds and continue with it. Apart from this bulk money, also put in SIPs and occasional additional money in the portfolio to make it bigger for a comfortable retirement.

When you retire and need money from this corpus, SWP (Systematic Withdrawal Plan) is the best and most tax-efficient way through your mutual funds portfolio to do it. It will be better if you get in touch with a good financial planner to execute it.

Also read this article by me to learn more on how to plan a retirement corpus:
https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/personal-finance/bucket-strategies-to-plan-income-from-retirement-corpus-9541101.html

Ans: The provisions of Section 54 of Income Tax Act, which allows you to buy a residential property earlier and then sell some other residential property and adjust the LTCG (Long Term Capital Gains) of the latter into the former, is available only if the gap between the two transactions is One year or less.

In your case, you have written that you ‘bought’ the house in Dec 2021, and then ‘Conveyance Deed’ was done in May 2022. This is confusing since the applicability of Section 54 of Income Tax Act is specifically with ‘possession’ of the house.

If you got possession of the house in Dec 21, then the gap between possession of new house and sale of old house is more than One year and hence you cannot adjust the LTCG of the two properties.

If you got the possession of the new house in May 2022, then the Section 54 of Income Tax Act is applicable to you. Since the new house has been jointly bought and both of you have paid for it, then the LTCG of the sold house will be adjusted to the extent of your share in the newly bought house. If it gets fully adjusted, well-and-good. If not, then you will have to exercise other options (buy a property, buy 54EC bonds or pay the tax) as per Section 54.

Ans: It seems that the old tax remine will be better for you. Still, to be in the safer side, do check it here yourself please: https://cleartax.in/paytax/taxcalculator

Ans: Ab initio it seems that the old tax remine will be better for you. Still, to be in the safer side, do check it here yourself please: https://cleartax.in/paytax/taxcalculator

Ans: You have not given out what PF are you referring to.
However, in general, any maturity amount of PPF and any Govt PF is tax free.
As far as EPFO is concerned, any withdrawal after five years of continuous service is tax-free.

Ans: Presumptive tax scheme and payment of advance tax are two separate issues.
Whether you want presumptive taxation or not depends on how much is your F&O turnover and if audit is not compulsory for you, whether you’re OK with being subjected to audit or not.
Advance Tax payment is only concerned with how you pay the tax that is due to be paid by you.

If you are carrying on F&O trading, you have to get your accounts audited if the turnover exceeds Rs 10 crore (the digital transactions are 95% or more). You can opt for a presumptive taxation scheme when turnover does not exceed Rs 2 crores and declare your taxable income at 6% of the total F&O turnover. Tax audit becomes mandatory if you opt for a presumptive scheme of taxation and declare an income lower than the presumptive income and total taxable income (after including income from other heads) exceeds the maximum amount not chargeable to tax i.e. Rs 2.5 lakh.

Unlike common perceptions, income from F&O Trading is considered a non-speculative business income, taxable at slab rates. If the tax liability of the F&O trader from all sources of income during the financial year exceeds INR 10,000, he/she is liable to pay Advance Tax in four quarterly instalments as per the applicable due date like any other income source.

Ans: Standard Deduction to the extent of Rs 50,000 for salaried and pensioners is available in the new tax regime from next financial year and not the current one. The answer to your query is as below. I have simply copied it from another website, for your information.

With the revised new tax regime, several exemptions and deductions have been removed as below:-

1. Leave Travel Allowance
2. House rent allowance depending upon salary structure and rent paid
3. Professional tax paid by a maximum of Rs. 2,500/-
4. Deductions available under Section 80TTA and 80TTB that is interest from Savings Account/Deposits
5. Tax deduction on entertainment allowance and deduction on professional tax for government employees
6. The interest amount payable on home loan for a self-occupied or any vacant property u/s 24 maximum deductions of Rs 2 lakhs
7. Deduction of Rs 15,000 allowed from family pension under clause (ii) (a) Section 57
8. Special Allowances that are provided under Section 10(14) except:
9. Transport allowance granted to a disabled employee
10. Conveyance allowance
11. Any allowances granted for meeting the cost of travel on tour or transfer of an employee
12. Daily allowance
13. Perquisites
14. Business owners and professionals will lose the exemption to Special Economic Zones under Section 10AA.
15. Deductions under Section 32AD, 33AB, 33ABA, 35(1)(ii),35(1)(ii( (a), 35(1)(iii), 35(2AA), 35AD and 35CCC of the Income Tax Act.
16. Options of additional depreciation under Section 32(ii) (a) of the Income Tax Act
17. The option to carry forward or unabsorbed depreciation of earlier years
18. Tax-saving investment deductions under Income Tax Act , Chapter VI-A 80C, 80D, 80E, 80CCC, 80CCD, 80D, 80DD, 80DDB, 80EE, 80EEA, 80EEB, 80G, 80GG, 80GGA, 80GGC, 80IA, 80-IAB, 80-IAC, 80-IB, 80-IBA, etc. These tax-saving investment options include ELSS, NPS, PPF tax relief on mediclaim insurance premium, FDR, dependents who are differently-abled, expenses for specified medical treatments, interest on education loan and many more.



Exemptions that remain prevalent in the new revised system, that you can claim:

1. Standard deduction for salaried and pension class of Rs 50,000.
2. Interest received on Post Office Savings Account under Section 10(15)(i) the maximum amount of Rs. 3,500.
3. Gratuity received from employer up to a maximum amount of Rs. 20 Lacs.
4. Amount received from Life Insurance Policy on maturity under Section 10(10D).
5. Employer contribution in NPS or EPF up to 12% of salary and interest on EPF up to 9.5% p.a.
6. Income from Life Insurance.
7. Income from agricultural farming.
8. Standard reduction on rent.
9. Retrenchment compensation.
10. Leave encashment on retirement.
11. VRS proceeds up to Rs 5 lacs.
12. Retirement cum death benefit.
13. Money received as a scholarship for education.
14. Interest and maturity amount of PPF or Sukanya Smriddhi Yojna.
15. Commutation of Pension.
16. The new tax regime offers you to claim deductions u/s 80CCD(2) (employers contribution in notified pension scheme) and 80JJAA (for new employment).

Ans: Your question is not clear please

Ans: Ab initio, it seems that the old tax regime will be good for you. However, still head over to the below link and check it yourself in 2-3 minutes. https://cleartax.in/paytax/TaxCalculator

Ans: The answer to your query is as below. I have simply copied it from another website, for your information.

With the revised new tax regime, several exemptions and deductions have been removed as below:-

1. Leave Travel Allowance
2. House rent allowance depending upon salary structure and rent paid
3. Professional tax paid by a maximum of Rs. 2,500/-
4. Deductions available under Section 80TTA and 80TTB that is interest from Savings Account/Deposits
5. Tax deduction on entertainment allowance and deduction on professional tax for government employees
6. The interest amount payable on home loan for a self-occupied or any vacant property u/s 24 maximum deductions of Rs 2 lakhs
7. Deduction of Rs 15,000 allowed from family pension under clause (ii) (a) Section 57
8. Special Allowances that are provided under Section 10(14) except:
9. Transport allowance granted to a disabled employee
10. Conveyance allowance
11. Any allowances granted for meeting the cost of travel on tour or transfer of an employee
12. Daily allowance
13. Perquisites
14. Business owners and professionals will lose the exemption to Special Economic Zones under Section 10AA.
15. Deductions under Section 32AD, 33AB, 33ABA, 35(1)(ii),35(1)(ii( (a), 35(1)(iii), 35(2AA), 35AD and 35CCC of the Income Tax Act.
16. Options of additional depreciation under Section 32(ii) (a) of the Income Tax Act
17. The option to carry forward or unabsorbed depreciation of earlier years
18. Tax-saving investment deductions under Income Tax Act , Chapter VI-A 80C, 80D, 80E, 80CCC, 80CCD, 80D, 80DD, 80DDB, 80EE, 80EEA, 80EEB, 80G, 80GG, 80GGA, 80GGC, 80IA, 80-IAB, 80-IAC, 80-IB, 80-IBA, etc. These tax-saving investment options include ELSS, NPS, PPF tax relief on mediclaim insurance premium, FDR, dependents who are differently-abled, expenses for specified medical treatments, interest on education loan and many more.



Exemptions that remain prevalent in the new revised system, that you can claim:

1. Standard deduction for salaried and pension class of Rs 50,000.
2. Interest received on Post Office Savings Account under Section 10(15)(i) the maximum amount of Rs. 3,500.
3. Gratuity received from employer up to a maximum amount of Rs. 20 Lacs.
4. Amount received from Life Insurance Policy on maturity under Section 10(10D).
5. Employer contribution in NPS or EPF up to 12% of salary and interest on EPF up to 9.5% p.a.
6. Income from Life Insurance.
7. Income from agricultural farming.
8. Standard reduction on rent.
9. Retrenchment compensation.
10. Leave encashment on retirement.
11. VRS proceeds up to Rs 5 lacs.
12. Retirement cum death benefit.
13. Money received as a scholarship for education.
14. Interest and maturity amount of PPF or Sukanya Smriddhi Yojna.
15. Commutation of Pension.
16. The new tax regime offers you to claim deductions u/s 80CCD(2) (employers contribution in notified pension scheme) and 80JJAA (for new employment).

Ans: Platform from which you invest does not matter since the Mutual Fund investments will anyway go to the respective AMC (Asset Management Company - the mutual Fund company) only irrespective of the platform that you use.

Ans: I have no idea about your age, future financial goals, your risk profile and your existing investments. So, while giving one suggested solution to you, I’m assuming that you’re young (less than 40 years of age), are open to equity investing, have a long term horizon of at least 7 years or more and would have the nerves to not get unduly perturbed if markets go temporarily down.

Very first point to note is that when you write that you’re investing for 20 years, please do imbibe it into your thinking too that you’re in it for a very long term. Typically, investors change their investing horizon as per the market conditions – if markets remain good, they’re long term players, if markets turn down, they start exiting in panic and become short term players. Please remember that markets will always give great returns only if you ‘spend time in the markets, rather than try timing the market’.

Since you’re just 37 years old, you have a huge age advantage (those younger have even more advantage!) – use it to your benefit. I have no idea about your other investments, your future financial goals and your risk profile (implying how much volatility are you comfortable with in the markets).

So, I’m just giving you a high-equity portfolio which is a long term portfolio but needs to be reviewed and maybe rebalanced every year. I’m also assuming that you have no other funds or equity.
The portfolio that I would suggest is:-
1. Large Cap - 20% of SIP amount - HDFC Index Fund
2. Flexicap – 20% - Parag Parikh Flexicap Fund
3. Midcap – 20% - Kotak Emerging Equity Fund
4. Aggressive Hybrid – 20% - Canara Robeco Equity Hybrid Fund
5. Small Cap – 20% - SBI Small Cap Fund

In the above portfolio, the last, Small Cap category, will be very volatile and you will need to get used to it. If you’re not up to its gyrations, stick to first four with 25% allocation each.

Ans: No. For old tax regime it remains Rs 5 Lakhs

Ans: As given out earlier in my answer to similar questions, it depends on a lot of factors unique to you and giving a stock answer here would be incorrect without knowing anything else about you.

There’s a very simple solution though. Just head over to the below link and check it yourself in 2-3 minutes. You can try out various scenarios too as you like.
https://cleartax.in/paytax/TaxCalculator

Ans: Your long term capital gains (LTCG) would need to be calculated based on your indexed cost of acquisition of plot, construction and any improvements or alterations done by you of a permanent nature. For doing this, your original costs, inflated by the CII (Cost Inflation Index) as given out by the Govt from time to time is to be used.

The current CII is available from 2001 onwards, while your purchases relate to much earlier. There are ways of handling this including a valuation to be done by a competent professional.

I would recommend you to approach a Govt certified valuer or a CA to evaluate the LTCG in this case.

Ans: I do not know which financial year are you referring to.

If you take the new tax regime this year, you will pay a tax of Rs 2,17,500 as there’s no standard deduction. Next year you will pay tax of Rs 1,65,000.

If you take the old tax regime, you will pay a tax of Rs 1,72,500, assuming that you will use the IT Section provision of 80C fully and also have the standard deduction. If you are also eligible to deductions under Sections 80D, 80E, and 80G, tax will further reduce in the old tax regime.

Ans: If you choose the new tax regime next year, you will not have to pay any tax.

Ans: If your total salary is up to Rs 7 Lakhs, you are exempted from paying any tax. But if your salary is even Rs 7,00,001, then you will have to calculate the tax as per the slab structure.

Ans: If you mean Super Senior Indian Citizens, I agree with you

Ans: If you take 80C full benefit and get the standard deduction, old regime should be better for you.

Ans: Two points from me since this will happen very frequently when you’re invested for the long run:-

1. This is how the markets behave – if they were not to have volatility, they would give FD-type returns only. Note that I call it volatile behaviour and not risky behaviour.
2. Do not change your character just because markets are volatile – do not turn into a short term investor when markets go down. You should take out any investments only if either your goal for which that investment had been done has arrived or if that investment is no longer a good one to continue and you wish to shift to another better one.

I get excited when markets fall, rather than when they go up, because a fall gives me more opportunities to acquire good securities at low rates.

Ans: Same answer as given earlier: The tax slabs themselves are very broad and your benefits depend on what sections of Income Tax Act are you taking benefit of like 80C, 80G, 80D, 80E, 24B, and HRA.

Instead of looking at broad tax slabs, please calculate yourself at this calculator as pertaining to yourself and you will be able to decide which tax regime is better for you:-
https://cleartax.in/paytax/TaxCalculator

Ans: Same answer as given earlier: The tax slabs themselves are very broad and your benefits depend on what sections of Income Tax Act are you taking benefit of like 80C, 80G, 80D, 80E, 24B, and HRA.

Instead of looking at broad tax slabs, please calculate yourself at this calculator as pertaining to yourself and you will be able to decide which tax regime is better for you:-
https://cleartax.in/paytax/TaxCalculator

Ans: The tax slabs of >15L is itself very broad and your benefits depend on what sections of Income Tax Act are you taking benefit of like 80C, 80G, 80D, 80E, 24B, and HRA.

Instead of looking at broad tax slabs, please calculate yourself at this calculator as pertaining to yourself and you will be able to decide which tax regime is better for you:-
https://cleartax.in/paytax/TaxCalculator

Ans: The tax slabs themselves are very broad and your benefits depend on what sections of Income Tax Act are you taking benefit of like 80C, 80G, 80D, 80E, 24B, and HRA.

Instead of looking at broad tax slabs, please calculate yourself at this calculator as pertaining to yourself and you will be able to decide which tax regime is better for you:-
https://cleartax.in/paytax/TaxCalculator

Ans: Under the new tax regime, Standard Deduction is not allowed this financial year (FY) but will be allowed next FY. 80C and 80TTB is not allowed in any of the years.

Ans: If you’re referring to the new tax regime, then it will entirely depend on what other deductions (80C, 80D, 80E, 80G, 24(b) etc) are applicable to you. There is a possibility that old tax regime may be better for you next year too.

There are many tax calculators available online for you to use and arrive at a decision.

Ans: Do not go for stocks if you do not have any idea about them. You will hurt yourself unnecessarily.

For a three year goal, I do not recommend you taking a very aggressive call. Better to build a portfolio of one Large Cap, one Flexicap, one hybrid aggressive and one balanced advantage fund.

Please remember this will depend a lot on your risk profile, where all have you already invested and how critical are your goals.

Ans: If you take the full 80C benefit, old regime will be beneficial to you this and next year.

Ans: This year as also next year, old tax regime will be beneficial to you assuming you avail the 80C and 80CCD(1B)benefits.

Ans: I have my serious doubts if that will work – old wine in a new bottle!

A better idea may be to first find out what part of your projections to potential investors did not work – they did not find workable enough? Was it the business idea, scalability, profitability, doubts on team’s and its management’s capabilities, external environment or comparison with the current and/or anticipated competition? In fact there could be many other reasons including those which you did not take into account when you were making your pitch to them.

To my mind, unless you find the reasons, or at least some sense of your weak points, your hard work may again face the same risk down the line.

Ans: Assuming that you have 13 years to retire, it would be good for you to invest in equity products and then use 4-bucket strategy for generating the required regular income for your retirement needs. You can read here about the bucket strategy: https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/personal-finance/bucket-strategies-to-plan-income-from-retirement-corpus-9541101.html

You will need to invest about Rs 21,000 per month to reach your target of Rs 1 Crore in 13 years if you invest in a good portfolio of equity mutual funds. I would recommend you to stay away from direct equity if you do not have a prior knowledge and experience of stock market investing. And you would have a much bigger corpus at your disposal, if you increase this monthly investment by about 10% per year as your salary increase.

But please remember that:-
1. You should be comfortable with investing in stock markets and its regular gyrations.
2. Do not attempt to time the market by trying to get out or get it at any supposedly ‘opportune’ moments – it doesn’t work so.
3. Inflation at about 6% per year will continuously deplete the value of your money. SO be very sure that your calculation of Rs 1 Crore is sufficient to give you the required monthly income month-after-month. Eg, if you require Rs 50,000 today for your monthly expenses, 13 years later, you will require you will require about Rs 1.07 Lakhs for the same standard of living.

Ans: A Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) is registered with SEBI, is highly regulated and audited, and voluntarily submits himself/herself to more scrutiny and regulations. You can safely assume that an RIA would always place your interests foremost without any doubt as the RIA gets no commission or compensation from anybody other than his/her clients. Thus, you would have to pay a fee to an RIA, like you pay a doctor, as there would be no other source of earning for an RIA. So, there would be no conflict of interest and you need not worry if you’re getting the right advice.

Investment Advisor Representative is no standard term used in financial industry and I’m not sure what do you mean by this. Hence, unable to reply to it.

Ans: You have a total of Rs 11,500 of SIPs per month. You will easily reach your target of Rs 50 Lakhs even in 15 years with the portfolio you are following, even after not taking into account the amount you have accumulated in the past 5 years!
And magic will happen if you increase your SIP by 10% each year as your salary increases.

However, remember that your portfolio is very aggressive, 100% equity oriented and would need a review and if required, rebalancing once a year.

My recommendations on your funds:-

1. Axis Bluechip Fund – Large Cap – Continue
2. Axis Flexicap Fund – Flexi Cap – Poor performance. Switch to Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund
3. Kotak Emerging Equity Fund – Mid Cap - Continue
4. DSP Mid Cap Fund – Mid Cap – Poor performance. Switch to PGIM India Midcap Opp Fund
5. IDFC Emerging Business – Small Cap - A very new fund with hardly any track record. Switch instead to SBI Small Cap Fund
6. Axis Small Cap Fund – Small Cap – Continue