February 2, 2019

Budget 2019 : Tax Rebate for annual income up to 5 Lakhs

Union Finance Minister Piyush Goyal declared in the budget speech in Parliament today that full income tax rebate will be provided for individual annual income up to Rs. 5 lakhs for the financial year 2019-2020.

“Individuals with taxable income of Rs.5 lakh annually will get full tax rebate“, the minister said. This is estimated to benefit about Rs. 3 crores middle-class taxpayers.

Individuals holding gross income up to Rs. 6.5 lakhs will not need to pay any tax if they execute investments in providential funds and prescribed equities, he said.

Other key announcements:

TDS threshold limit for rental income increased from Rs.1.8 lakh to 2.4 lakh
The privilege of rollover of capital gains under Section 54 of Income Tax Act increased from investment in one residential house to two for those with capital gains up to Rs. 2 crores.
The standard deduction for salaried persons increased from Rs.40,000 to Rs.50,000
Interest income up to Rs.40,000 from bank deposits excluded from TDS, instead of the present limit of Rs.10,000

Gratuity limit increased

The FM also declared that the gratuity limit for the salaried class would be raised from Rs. 10 lakhs to Rs 20 lakhs.

EPF limit increased

The limit of the Employment Provident Fund has been raised from Rs.2.5 lakh to Rs. 6 lakh in case of demise of an employee. “To ensure safety to the family of a salaried person, if he or she dies prematurely, the government of India proposes to increase EPF limit from Rs.2.5 lakhs to Rs.6 lakhs“, Goyal said.