With tax savings season behind us, the tax paying season will kick in shortly. And, from this year, you can pay your taxes through an ATM, if you are a customer of the Union Bank of India. Once you have registered your PAN, you can log in to the ATM and input the tax payable inclusive of the cess and surcharges, if any. On confirmation, your account will be debited automatically and a CIN number will be issued. On entering your CIN number in the bank's website the next day, you will be able to get a print out of the challan for records purposes. The added good news is that up to eight family members of a Union Bank of India customer can pay tax through the bank's ATM even if they do not have an account. Oriental Bank of Commerce too has come up with a similar offering. As the July 31 deadline draws nearer, expect many more banks to introduce this facility!

Rate cuts for deposits

After the series of rate hikes, here is a reversal. Thanks to improved liquidity conditions, Central Bank of India and Oriental Bank of Commerce have cut deposit rates on their some of the select schemes. The rates were cut on the shorter-end of maturities where the rates had risen the most, on previous occasions. For instance, Central Bank of India's 90-180 day deposit rates were cut from 8 per cent per annum to 7 per cent while the rates of the special deposit scheme (555 days) was cut from 9.6 per annum to 9.25 per cent. This move signifies that more banks may cut their deposit rate cuts at the shorter end of maturities.

Save capital gains tax

Worried that the tax on the gains you made from the sale of residential property will burn a big hole in your pocket? If you had owned the house for at least three years before you sold, you can save taxes by investing the proceeds on bonds issued by the National Highways Authority of India, which is open for subscription from April 1. While the minimum investment is at Rs 10,000, you can invest upto Rs 50 lakhs in these bonds. Offering an interest rate of 6 per cent per annum, NHAI redeems the bonds after three years. The bonds are available at all branches of Union Bank of India, IDBI Bank and select branches of HDFC Bank, Canara Bank, Punjab National Bank and Syndicate Bank. You can also download it from www.nhai.org

Don't be fooled

RBI has put out an announcement cautioning customers against providing their account information in response to the mails they receive in RBI's name. There have been spam mails circulating with the RBI domain id requesting customers to update their bank account details. . The central bank has also clarified that banks don't communicate through e-mails when asking for bank account details for any purpose.

NSE Midcap lot size increases

Do you trade in the futures market? Then get ready to shell out higher margin money as lot sizes for NSE midcap and 73 other stocks have been revised from 75 to 150. These stocks include ABB, Bajaj Hindustan, JP Associates, L&T and Voltas. .

The exchange has however revised lot sizes downwards in futures contracts of such companies as Hexware , Hindalco Orchid Chemicals and LIC Housing Finance. This change would take effect from the July 2011 contract which would be introduced by the end of the current month.

Insurance tele-calls more reliable now

Insurance watch dog IRDA has announced that all tele-callers will now be trained by an accredited institute. The regulator has further said that all the calls made by the telemarketers should be recorded to be transferred to the insurer. The IRDA had also barred the insurers from soliciting unit-linked insurance products of non-single premium type for annualised premiums exceeding Rs 50,000 over telephonic mode (voice as well as SMS). All these changes are to take effect from October 1.

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