Is there a wedding coming up in your family? Planning to make big-ticket jewellery purchases? Come July, it will be compulsory to quote your PAN if you purchase jewellery or bullion worth Rs 5 lakh or more, according to a new directive from the Income Tax department. Besides, this rule will also apply to those who avail debit cards from banks and make insurance payments exceeding Rs 50,000 a year.

Deposit rates shoot up

Post a 0.25 per cent hike in Reserve Bank of India's policy rate last week, banks have followed suit. ING Vysya Bank, IDBI Bank and Yes Bank have all hiked their deposit rates. The quantum of increase ranged between 0.1 to 0.5 per cent in the case of IDBI Bank whereas ING VYsya Bank hiked rates by 0.25 per cent on specific maturities. For instance, ING Vysya Bank's 366 to 500 day deposit would now carry a 9.5 per cent rate of interest against the earlier 9.25 per cent. Yes Bank has hiked deposit rates by 0.25 per cent to 0.5 per cent for the deposits less than one year.

The ‘e'asy way for IT returns

With the tax season round the corner, there is one more option for those looking to file your returns online. For a fee of Rs 189 for the service, www.taxsum.com has been launched recently to help you go through the process. This bilingual (English and Hindi) portal enables you file returns from ITR 1 to ITR 6. It also offers browser based digital signature that can be affixed on your e-returns. Besides, if you have symbian-enabled mobile phones or blackberry devices, you can file your returns on the move as well.

Cut down capital gains calculations

ICICI Direct customers, breathe easy! Just as you begin working out your obligations to the taxman, the broking arm has come out with a new tool to make capital gains calculations easier for you. This tool will help you segregate long and short term transactions and calculate profit and loss on your equity and mutual fund holdings. Besides, you can consolidate your investment portfolio, obtain date-wise records of transactions, identify income as dividends and interest and adjust costs for dividend reinvestments as well.

Cash from a coffee shop

If you happen to visit a Barista Lavazza outlet, there's more than coffee to be had there. Visa Debit Card holders can swipe their cards for cash at these outlets. The maximum amount that can be withdrawn is Rs 1,000. No charges are levied on such cash withdrawal. Furthermore, cardholders need not necessarily make purchases at the outlets in order to draw money. Currently available in Delhi, NCR and Mumbai, the service will soon make its way across the country.

Free accident cover

Customers of State Bank of Hyderabad have yet another reason to keep their relationship with the bank going. Existing and prospective customers of the bank will now enjoy a free personal accident insurance cover. The bank has entered an agreement with United India Insurance under which existing and new customers will get a cover of up to Rs 1 lakh against death due to accident. However, the cover would be offered only for a period of one year from July 1, 2011 for existing customers and one year from the date of opening of account for new customers. The bank will also act as a facilitator for making the insurance claim in the event of such an accident.

A game of one-upmanship

With petrol prices sky-rocketing and car sales slowing, car finance companies are coming up with innovative offers to keep the sales ticking. To offset the cost of ownership of a petrol vehicle when compared to a diesel car, Volkswagen Financial Services is offering a special interest rate of 6.99 per cent for its petrol version of the Vento. Honda is also providing similar rates on the City and Jazz.

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