DIRECT TAXES
| How Saral is the Saral-II form Mon, 31 May 2010 |
| The Hindu How Saral is the Saral-II form Saral-II form, it is understood, has been notified by the Government and has been announced with some fanfare promising an easy return. How far does it help senior citizens? Saral-II form vide Notification No. 29 of 2010 dated April 23, 2010, is meant for individuals having income from salary/ pension and income from not more than one house property and income from investments other than lottery winnings and income from horse racing. There is a provision for reporting exemptions “(from dividends, capital gains, etc.)”. If there be a claim for adjustment of brought forward loss from property, this form cannot be used. In other words, senior citizens with pension, a single house property and income from investments should ordinarily be able to use this form. The form provides for details regarding tax deduction at source, advance tax and self-assessment tax. It also provides for transactions, which are required to be reported by various sources in their statutory annual information returns so as to enable verification of such information without calling the assessee. Transaction under the present law required to be listed in the schedule to the return with minimum limit in parenthesis are, namely, purchase and sale of immovable properties (Rs. 30 lakh), investments in purchase of units in mutual funds (Rs. 2 lakh), investments in bonds and debentures issued by a company or an institution or Reserve Bank (Rs. 5 lakh), credit card payments (Rs. 2 lakh), investment in shares (Rs. 1 lakh) and cash deposits in savings bank account (Rs. 10 lakh). Instructions are detailed and run into several pages giving all the required information for computing taxable incomes from salaries, income from property and income from other sources and various deductions under Chapter VI-A. More importantly, the instructions give details as to who should use the form and who cannot use it. Those who can use the form are those having incomes from the sources listed. Those who cannot use the form are those who own more than one house property or have income from capital gains or having agricultural income in excess of Rs. 5,000 or income from business or profession or winnings from lottery or income from horse racing. The form does make it easy for a limited class of persons, including senior citizens with limited sources of income. If such class of persons still find it not so easy to fill up the return, the fault lies in the complications of law in computation of income and the need for verification of return without having to call the assessee. It could not have been possibly made simpler without simplification of law |
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