Is your income from salary less than Rs 5 lakh? Here’s the good news – you can forget filing your tax returns! To simplify the return filing process, the government has stated that tax payers whose annual income (after deductions) from salary does not exceed Rs 5 lakh and whose interest income is below Rs 10,000 need not file their income tax return from the this year onwards. But before rejoicing, make sure that you are eligible for this concession. For instance, in case of interest income, you should have reported the bank interest to your employer who in turn should have deducted tax at source on it. In other words, the idea of the scheme is not to tax you less. It is merely to avoid duplication of information that has already been declared to the employer. Pensioners too would be eligible to categorise themselves under the scheme provided their income is below Rs 5 lakh.

However, there are a few categories of people who cannot seek comfort from the above scheme. Individuals who have received salary from two or more employers (which happens when they switch jobs during a year) would not be eligible. Similarly, it would not cover those taxpayers who have income from sources other than salary and interest income from a savings bank account, or have refund claims. The benefit under the scheme shall also not be available for persons who have been issued notice to file their returns.

E-wallet card from Axis Bank

Apart from your debit and credit cards, Axis Bank customers now have another solution for online payments – the e-wallet card. This card can be created instantly using Axis Bank’s internet banking facility. All you have to do is log on to the bank’s internet banking portal, select the e-Wallet Card option under the Cards menu and then choose the source account from which the funds would be debited. Once created, the card can be used only once. The minimum amount that can be loaded on the card is Rs 10 and maximum is Rs. 50,000. The validity period of the card is 48 hours. In case of partial usage or zero usage, the un-utilized amount will be credited back to the user bank account within 4 days. The card can be used for making payments on all websites that accept Visa cards. In case of emergency the e-Wallet Card can also be shared with relatives & friends.

Buy MFs by swiping your debit card

You will now be able to mutual funds schemes from the ICICI Prudential and Fidelity fund houses by swiping your Visa debit cards. You can buy the fund of your choice through their websites - www.icicipruamc.com and www.fidelity.co.in. Both houses currently allow only lump sum investments. Very soon, ICICI Prudential also plans to introduce Visa point-of-sales terminals in seven cities – Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Pune and Ahmedabad where you can similarly swipe to buy schemes managed by the AMC. While DSP Blackrock and SBI too had enabled investments through debit cards some time back, fund houses like UTI, Quantum and Sundaram are planning come out with this option soon.

EPF may go online

After stock trading, mutual funds and gold funds, the Employee Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) is now working on bringing your account online. Once this exercise is through, you will be able to apply online for transfer of your PF account balance, when you change employers. You can also apply online for withdrawal of money. Meanwhile, the annual statement on their account balances for 2010-11 for state government employees is now being despatched.

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