The new financial year starts on Friday, April 1, and changes pertaining to income tax, provident fund contributions and others become applicable as well. The Parliament on Tuesday, March 29, approved the Budget 2022-23, with the Rajya Sabha returning the Appropriation Bill 2022 and Finance Bill 2022. The two Bills were approved by the Lok Sabha on Friday. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had presented the Union Budget on February 1.
Here are all the changes that will impact you from April 1:
> Taxation on crypto assets will start applying from April 1 where virtual digital assets will attract a tax of 30% when sold at a profit. The 1% TDS regime that was announced, however, will come into effect from July 1, 2022.
> The changes brought in pertaining to cryptocurrency also includes that the government has disallowed offsetting loss from transfer of virtual digital assets against any other income or assets such as stocks and mutual funds.
> Interest income from your provident fund will be charged if the contribution to PF is more than Rs 2.5 lakh for non-government employees and Rs 5 lakh for government employees. Contribution below Rs 2.5 lakh is exempt from this rule.
> Rules pertaining to investing in Post Office's Monthly Income Scheme, Senior Citizen Savings Scheme or Post Office Term Deposit: Interest amount will not be available in cash and a savings account will have to be opened. The post office savings account or bank account has to be linked to the scheme for the interest to be paid.
> For homebuyers, the tax exemption that was announced for first time home buyers has not been renewed. The scheme, which was announced in the 2019-20 Budget where an income tax benefit of an additional Rs 1.5 lakh under section 80EEA of the Income Tax Act was given to those buying homes upto Rs 45 lakh. It had been renewed for two more years, but was not renewed in Budget 2022. An increase in tax that needs to be paid can be expected.
> As per the Union Budget, things that were to get more expensive include headphones and earphones, imitation jewellery, X-ray machines, solar cells, etc.
> Price of essential medicines: With the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) allowing the prices of scheduled drugs that are under price control to be hiked by 10.7%, essential medicines are likely to get costlier.