How Health Insurance helps in Tax Planning

This is a guest post by Priyanka Khandelwal, who is heading eBusiness vertical at MediManagea specialist health insurance advisory service for Individuals, Families and Corporates. Know more about Medimanage’s free advisory services here.

A quote that is often attributed to the Taxman goes like this: “We have what it takes to take what you have”. And Albert Einstein – the smartest human ever – once lamented, “The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax”. Benjamin Franklin goes a step further and says, “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes”. Singer Kishore Kumar is known to have major income tax problems, he said in an interview he used his tax record files as pesticides, because the moment a rat bites on them they would die immediately!

We all share a love-hate relationship with taxes. We know it has to be paid, we know it is used for the benefit of society as a whole, we know its role in the economy, but we still are uncomfortable paying it. As our income increases, the discomfort with rising taxes also goes up. This is where tax saving investments come in. There are a plethora of schemes available, that help you save taxes. Traditionally, Insurance has been known as an important medium to save taxes. So, where does Health Insurance fit in? Let’s see.

Health Insurance and Taxes

The tax exemptions available to Medical Insurance schemes is summed up in Section 80D of the Income Tax Act. For any health insurance policy bought, a policyholder can claim deduction on premium paid for up to Rs. 25,000 (according to Budget 2015). The deduction for senior citizens is Rs. 30,000.

For those very senior citizens (80 years and above) to whom health insurance is not available, any payment made on the account of medical expenditure for such people shall be allowed as a deduction under Section 80D, subject to a maximum limit of Rs. 30,000. This deduction will be given subject to the fact that any premium towards any health insurance is not being paid for such person.

However, total deduction for health insurance premium and medical expenses for parents shall be limited to Rs 30,000.

Section 80D allows for tax deduction from the total taxable income for the payment of medical insurance premium paid by an individual or a Hindu undivided Family (HUF), in any mode other than cash. This deduction is over and above the normal deduction of Rs. 1,50,000 allowed under Section 80C.

The deduction under Sec 80D is allowed for making a payment towards maintaining an insurance policy which:-

In case of an Individual:- Is for the health of the self or the spouse, dependent parents or dependent children, or

In case of HUF:- Is for any Member of the Family.

Amount of Deduction Available

The deduction is to be claimed while filing income tax returns. The deduction is the sum of the following amounts –

In case the payment of medical insurance premium is for self, spouse, dependent children or parents (dependent or not) – Rs. 25000. In case the person insured is a Senior Citizen, the deduction allowed should be Rs. 30,000.

So, the total deduction that can potentially be claimed by a family under Section 80D is as below:

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Criteria for claiming deductions

The criteria for claiming deductions under Section 80D by way of health insurance premiums is as outlined below:

* The said policyholder/ tax payer is an individual or HUF (Resident or NRI)

* The insurance premium paid is in accordance with the schemes framed by General Insurance Corporation of India & approved by Central Government.

* The premium has been paid by any mode other than cash.

* It is paid out of taxable income

Proof of payment

As proof of payment, mediclaim receipt has to be furnished while claiming the deduction.

Illustration

During a financial year, a policyholder/ tax payer pays medical insurance premium as below:-

  1. Rs. 24,000 as premium on his own health policy &
  2. Rs. 29,000 as insurance policy premium on the health of his parents

In the above mentioned scenario, the assesse would be allowed a deduction of Rs. 49,000 (Rs. 24,000 + Rs. 25,000) in case neither of his parents is a senior citizen. However, if any of his parents is a senior citizen, he will be allowed a deduction of Rs. 53,000 (Rs. 24,000+ Rs. 29,000).

The importance of having a judicious Health insurance cover cannot be emphasized enough. Even if the premiums seem like too high an expense, one should also keep in mind that these premium payments not only help save lives but income tax as well! The limits of deduction by age has to be understood properly before claiming such deduction while filing for returns.

As illustrated above, Health Insurance can also be an important instrument for saving taxes, and should be an inseparable part of one’s tax planning. Albert Einstein would approve. And apparently, so would Kishore Kumar.

If you want to speak to Priyanka’s team of expert advisors for a one-to-one discussion on your requirements, post your inquiry here.

NHAI 7.60% Tax-Free Bonds – Tranche I – December 2015 Issue

This post is written by Shiv Kukreja, who is a Certified Financial Planner and runs a financial planning firm, Ojas Capital in Delhi/NCR. He can be reached at skukreja@investitude.co.in

Having gained 20-30% on their investments made in tax-free bonds a couple of years back, investors’ hunger for tax-free bonds has grown considerably. With IRFC issue worth Rs. 4,532 crore getting 2.38 times oversubscribed on the first day itself, there seems to be no slowdown in the subscription demand for these bonds.

To cash-in on this huge demand and ending a long wait for its tax-free bonds, NHAI, which filed its draft shelf prospectus in the first week of October, will be launching its first tranche of tax-free bonds from the coming Thursday i.e. 17th December. As the issue size is considerably quite big at Rs. 10,000 crore, I hope most of the retail investors are able to get their share of bonds allotted at least this time around. The issue is officially scheduled to remain opened for two weeks and will get closed on December 31st.

Before we analyse it further, let us first quickly check the salient features of this issue:

Size of the Issue – NHAI is authorized to raise Rs. 24,000 crore from tax free bonds this financial year, out of which the company has already raised Rs. 3,872 crore by issuing these bonds through a private placement. Out of the remaining Rs. 20,128 crore, the company will raise Rs. 10,000 crore in this issue.

Coupon Rates on Offer – With rising G-Sec yield, earlier IRFC and now NHAI, both have been able to offer higher coupon rates as compared to PFC and REC. While IRFC offered 7.53% for the 15-year period and 7.36% for the 10-year period, NHAI is offering an even higher rate of interest at 7.60% for 15 years and 7.39% for 10 years.

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For the non-retail investors, these rates would be lower by 25 basis points (or 0.25%).

Rating of the Issue – CRISIL, ICRA, CARE and India Ratings consider investing in these bonds to be safe and as a result, have assigned ‘AAA’ rating to the issue. Also, these bonds are ‘Secured’ in nature i.e. in case of any default, the bondholders would carry a right to make claim on certain assets of the company.

NRI/QFI Investment NOT Allowed – Unlike PFC, REC & IRFC issues, Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) won’t be able to make investment in this issue. Qualified Foreign Investors (QFIs) are also not eligible to invest in this issue.

Investor Categories & Allocation Ratio – The investors have been classified in the following four categories and each category will have certain percentage of the issue size reserved during the allocation process:

Category I – Qualified Institutional Bidders (QIBs) – 20% of the issue is reserved i.e. Rs. 2,000 crore

Category II – Non-Institutional Investors (NIIs) – 20% of the issue is reserved i.e. Rs. 2,000 crore

Category III – High Net Worth Individuals including HUFs – 20% of the issue is reserved i.e. Rs. 2,000 crore

Category IV – Resident Indian Individuals including HUFs – 40% of the issue is reserved i.e. Rs. 4,000 crore

Allotment on First Come First Served Basis – Subject to the allocation ratio, allotment will be made on a first come first serve (FCFS) basis in each of the investor categories, based on the date of upload of each application into the electronic system of the stock exchanges.

Listing & Allotment – NHAI has decided to get these bonds listed on both the stock exchanges, National Stock Exchange (NSE) as well as Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). The company will allot the bonds and get them listed within 12 working days from the closing date of the issue.

Demat A/c. Not Mandatory – It is not mandatory to have a demat account to apply for these bonds. Investors have the option to subscribe to these bonds in physical form as well. Whether you apply for these bonds in demat or physical form, the interest payment will still get credited to your bank account through ECS.

Also, even if you get these bonds allotted in your demat account, you have the option to rematerialize your holding in physical/certificate form if you decide to close your demat account in future.

No Lock-In Period – These tax-free bonds are freely tradable and do not carry any lock-in period. The investors may sell them at the market price whenever they want after these bonds get listed on the stock exchanges within 12 working days of the closing date.

Interest on Application Money & Refund – Successful allottees will earn interest at the applicable coupon rates i.e. 7.39% p.a. for 10 years and 7.60% p.a. for 15 years, on their application money, from the date of realization of application money up to one day prior to the deemed date of allotment. Unsuccessful allottees will get interest @ 5% per annum on their refund money.

Minimum & Maximum Investment – Investors are required to put in a minimum investment of Rs. 5,000 in this issue i.e. at least 5 bonds of face value Rs. 1,000 each. There is no upper limit for the investors to invest in this issue. However, an investor investing more than Rs. 10 lakhs will be categorized as a high networth individual (HNI) and will get a lower rate of interest as applicable.

Interest Payment Date – NHAI will make its first interest payment on April 1st next year and subsequent interest payments will also be made on April 1 every year, except the last interest payment, which will be made to the bondholders along with the redemption amount on the maturity date.

Record Date – For the payment of interest or the maturity amount, record date will be fixed 15 days prior to the date on which such amount is due to be payable.

Should you invest in this issue?

NHAI tax-free bonds issued in February 2014 are quoting at a yield to maturity (YTM) of 7.28% with the closing market price of Rs. 1,186.53. Also, bonds issued in January 2012 are carrying 7.24% yield and last traded at Rs. 1,096 on Friday.

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Taking a clue from these already listed bonds, I think subscribing to the 15-year option makes more sense. Risk-averse investors with a long term view should definitely invest in these bonds. In the short-term as well, you can expect some listing gains with these bonds.

Application Form for NHAI Tax Free Bonds

Note: As per SEBI guidelines, ‘Bidding’ is mandatory before banking the application form, else the application is liable to get rejected. For bidding of your application, any further info or to invest in NHAI tax-free bonds, you can contact me at +919811797407

IRFC 7.53% Tax-Free Bonds – December 2015 Issue

This post is written by Shiv Kukreja, who is a Certified Financial Planner and runs a financial planning firm, Ojas Capital in Delhi/NCR. He can be reached at skukreja@investitude.co.in

IRFC 7.64% Tax-Free Bonds Issue – Tranche II – March 2016 Issue

It has been a very long time since NHAI filed the draft shelf prospectus for its tax-free bonds issue in the first week of October. Investors have been desperately waiting for a bigger issue as all the previous issues by NTPC, PFC and REC have left them fairly disappointed.

All these issues were of smaller sizes of Rs. 700 crore each and got hugely oversubscribed on the first day itself. But, before NHAI could make it, IRFC has taken the lead to launch its tax-free bonds from the coming Tuesday i.e. December 8th.

As the issue size is quite big, I hope it does not get oversubscribed on the first day itself and the retail investors get full allotment at least this time around. The issue is scheduled to get closed on December 21st.

Before we analyse it, let us first quickly check the salient features of this issue:

Size of the Issue – IRFC is authorized to raise Rs. 6,000 crore from tax free bonds this financial year, out of which the company has already raised Rs. 1,468 crore by issuing these bonds through private placements. The company will raise the remaining Rs. 4,532 crore in this issue.

Coupon Rates on Offer – REC offered 7.43% as its highest rate of interest for the 20-year investment period. Due to a sharp reversal in G-Sec rates, coupon rates for this issue have risen by 0.07% to 0.19%. IRFC will offer yearly rate of interest of 7.32% for its 10-year option, 7.53% for the 15-year option and 7.50% for the 20-year option to the retail investors investing less than or equal to Rs. 10 lakh.

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As always, these rates would be lower by 25 basis points (or 0.25%) for the non-retail investors.

Rating of the Issue – CRISIL, ICRA and CARE consider investing in these bonds to be safe and as a result, have assigned ‘AAA’ rating to the issue. Also, these bonds are ‘Secured’ in nature and in case of any default, the bondholders would carry a right to make claim on certain assets of the company.

NRI/QFI Investment Allowed – Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) are eligible to invest in this issue, on a repatriation basis as well as non-repatriation basis. Unlike earlier issues, Qualified Foreign Investors (QFIs) are also allowed to invest in this issue.

Investor Categories & Allocation Ratio – The investors have been classified in the following four categories and each category will have certain percentage of the issue size reserved during the allocation process:

Category I – Qualified Institutional Bidders (QIBs) – 15% of the issue is reserved i.e. Rs. 679.80 crore

Category II – Non-Institutional Investors (NIIs) – 20% of the issue is reserved i.e. Rs. 906.40 crore

Category III – High Net Worth Individuals including HUFs & NRIs – 25% of the issue is reserved i.e. Rs. 1,133 crore

Category IV – Resident Indian Individuals including HUFs & NRIs – 40% of the issue is reserved i.e. Rs. 1,812.80 crore

Allotment on First Come First Served Basis – Subject to the allocation ratio, allotment will be made on a first come first serve (FCFS) basis in each of the investor categories, based on the date of upload of each application into the electronic system of the stock exchanges.

Listing & Allotment – IRFC has decided to get these bonds listed on both the stock exchanges, National Stock Exchange (NSE) as well as Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). The company will allot the bonds and get them listed within 12 working days from the closing date of the issue.

Demat A/c. Not Mandatory – It is not mandatory to have a demat account to apply for these bonds. Investors have the option to subscribe to these bonds in physical form as well. Whether you apply for these bonds in demat or physical form, the interest payment will still get credited to your bank account through ECS.

Also, even if you get these bonds allotted in an electronic form, you have the option to rematerialize your holding in physical/certificate form if you decide to close your demat account in future.

No Lock-In Period – These tax-free bonds are freely tradable and do not carry any lock-in period. The investors may sell them at the market price whenever they want after these bonds get listed on the stock exchanges within 12 working days of the closing date.

Interest on Application Money & Refund – Successful allottees will earn interest at the applicable coupon rates on their application money, from the date of realization of application money up to one day prior to the deemed date of allotment. Unsuccessful allottees will get interest @ 5% per annum on their refund money.

Minimum & Maximum Investment – Investors are required to put in a minimum investment of Rs. 5,000 in this issue i.e. at least 5 bonds of face value Rs. 1,000 each. There is no upper limit for the investors to invest in this issue. However, an investor investing more than Rs. 10 lakhs will be categorized as a high networth individual (HNI) and will get a lower rate of interest as applicable.

Interest Payment Date – IRFC will make its first interest payment on October 15 next year and subsequent interest payments will also be made on October 15 every year.

Record Date – For the payment of interest or the maturity amount, record date will be fixed 15 days prior to the date on which such amount is due to be payable.

Should you invest in this issue?

Long-Term Potential – While the sentiment for real estate and gold investments has already been pretty negative, stock markets are once again testing risk appetite of the retail investors. Conservative investors can do nothing but invest in fixed deposits or explore some other relatively safer options like debt funds or tax-free bonds.

A sharp reversal in the G-Sec yield has again given an opportunity to the investors to invest at higher coupon rates. I personally think that India should have a relatively lower inflationary scenario in the next 3-5 years as compared to the previous few years. If you also have the same view and if you want to earn tax-free interest on your investments for the longest possible period of time, then I think you should opt for the 20-year bonds which carry 7.50% rate of interest. The 15-year option with 7.53% is also equally attractive with a relatively shorter investment period.

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Listing Gains – IRFC is offering 7.53% rate of interest for its 15-year option, which is also the highest rate of interest for its bonds across all three options. NTPC issue also carried the same 7.53% rate of interest for its 15-year option. As you can check from the table above, NTPC 15-year bonds last traded at Rs. 1,047 on Friday on the NSE i.e. a 4.7% premium to its issue price. Even if I consider Rs. 12-15 premium to be the accrued interest for the 2-month period since listing, these bonds are still earning a natural premium of approximately 3-3.50%.

Even the REC 15-year bonds, which got listed on November 5th on the BSE and carried a lower rate of interest of 7.34%, got traded at Rs. 1,030 on Friday i.e. a premium of 3% including one month’s accrued interest. This observation makes me believe that there is a scope of making some quick short-term listing gains with IRFC bonds as well.

Application Form for IRFC Tax Free Bonds

Note: As per SEBI guidelines, ‘Bidding’ is mandatory before banking the application form, else the application is liable to get rejected. For bidding of your application, any further info or to invest in IRFC tax-free bonds, you can contact me at +919811797407