Tax Tips Guide ! Save Tax ! Help Filing Income Tax Returns

Knowing about one's own country Tax system is one of the most important thing. This might help you understant the importance of paying taxes or even ways by which you can save Taxes. You know that government offers many tax bnefits and money grants for its citizen. Government offers different grants for pregnant mother, already a mother of new born, family grant (to raise children), unemplyed grant etc.

HM Revenue and Customs collect different taxes so that it can offer public services to its people. The amount of tax collected varies each year (government decides this) but the major tax heads remain almost same.

This guide should help you understant the various taxes that UK government collects from its citizens.

1. Income Tax (on your earnings, pensions, savings, investments and other benefits) - You pay income tax on the salary (if you are employed), on the profit you earn if you run a business (self employed), pensions you receive, dividends from shares and on many more things. Basically, if you are earning money (getting money from any source) then yo may have to pay taxes on this money earned. You are not sure whether you have to pay income tax on your money earned then better surf more or consult your Taxman (charted accountant or finance consultant).

2. Taxes on Transaction (buying, selling or giving away of things) - These include Capital gains tax, stamp duty and inheritance tax.

3. Tax on services and goods - Value Added Tax (VAT) on many everyday purchases, Fuel Duty on petrol diesel and LPG, Excise Duty on alcohol and tobacco , General Betting Duty.

4. Council Tax- to help pay for local services like policing and refuse collection.

This include the major taxes imposed but not all the taxes. You need to consult your government tax website for more details on various taxes.

If you were to get Tax refund from Income tax department for the financial years 2003-04 to 2006-07, and you could not get it due to changed address or for any other reason then you can claim this Tax refund again.

It might be possible that you changed your house and due to incorrect address, your tax refunds get undelivered. Income Tax department India has set up a website listing the tax refunds that could not be sent to salaried taxpayers for want of correct address.

The link for the official address of Income Tax department to track your Undelivered Tax refunds -:
http://www.incometaxindia.gov.in/CCIT/refundsearch.asp

Just visit the above link, enter your PAN number and assessment year. If you find that the address and other details are old, then just update your address and tax refunds will be sent to your new address.

All the college graduates, and other those who will start working and earning this year must have wondered about getting a PAN card. If you have not thought about it, then its high time to do so.

What is a PAN Card.
PAN refers to Permanent account number (a 10 digit alphanumeric number) laminated card much similar in look to a credit card or your driving license. This card is issued by Incom tx department of India.

Who all require to have this PAN Card.
All those who will be filing their Income tax returns are required to have a PAN number. It is a must to have a PAN number as you are required to quote this number while filing your tax returns. You will be asked to quote it whenever you have any kind of correspondence with Income Tax Department. It is also mandatory to mention PAN for obtaining a telephone or cellulartelephone connection. Likewise, PAN has to be mentioned for making a time deposit exceeding Rs. 50,000/- with a Bank or Post Office or for depositing cash of Rs. 50,000/- or more in a Bank.

So, in simple words all the people who will start earning this year must apply for a PAN number. Its time to apply for PAN Card.

If you are a pregnant Women (to be a mother) then you have one more reason to smile. UK government has brought Tax free payment act for Pregnant Mothers. From April 2009, you may be able to get a one-off, tax-free payment if you're a mum-to-be. The payment is called 'Health in Pregnancy Grant' .

If you are to be a Mum then you can make a claim for Health in Pregnancy Grant from 1st January if you are expected to give birth to a baby on or after 6th April 2009. You can get a one-off payment of £190 for each pregnancy (if you give birth to twins then too you just get one-off payment of £190). It will not affect your tax credits or any other benefits. Everyone will get the same amount – you will not be asked about your income. This saved Tax money will surely help you to meet the pregnancy bills.

Who is entitled to get the "Health in Pregnancy Grant" -:
You should be 25 weeks pregnant or more.
Expectation date should be on or after 6th April 2009.
You have been consulting a doctor or midwife for safety of yours and your baby.
Be present, 'ordinarily resident' and have a ‘right to reside’ in the UK

So, How to Cliam Health in Grant Pregnancy Tax Credits.
Once, you are eligible to get the Tax credits, you need to get your claim form filled in and signed by your midwife or doctor before you have your baby.
You should get your completed claim form to the Health in Pregnancy Grant Office within 31 days of your midwife or doctor signing it. For example, if your midwife signs the form on 6 April, the Health in Pregnancy Grant Office will need to receive it before 7 May.

So where to get this "Claim form" from
You better ask your Midwife or your doctor to get the claim form. They actually need to fill in their part and sign the document before you submit it to Health Pregnancy Grant Office.

Now where to send this Claim form to ?
You need to send duly filled and signed Claim form to -
HM Revenue & Customs Health in Pregnancy Grant
Comben House
Farriers Way
Liverpool
L75 1AX

Well for more help and information you can consult to Health Pregnancy Grant website.

So, you are not a unmarried person. You have a family. England government wants to help its citizens to bring up their children. The step taken by them is to provide them with Tax benefits.

Government has set different tax benefits to help families with the extra cost to bring up their children.

So, who all have these benefits-:

• Pregnant Women.
• Women who just had her baby.
• Tax Benefits for men whose spouse just gave birth to a child.
• Tax Credits/benefits for those who adopt.

Government also provide Child Trust Fund Payment and Tax credits for the parents.

India Service Tax :

Indian Government has reduced the service Tax in India. The old Service tax rate in India was 12.36%, however it has been reduced to 10.36% w.e.f from 24.02.2009. (24th Feb 2009).

So, you donated some money to a charitable organization and got Income Tax receipt for them. Now what. Should you need to submit those Receipts while filing tax returns to get tax benefits (refunds on Taxes)..?

Firstly yes you are entitled to get Tax benefits for the donations you made.

Now it depends whether you are paper filing your taxes or filing your taxes online.
If you are filing a paper return then its better to send all your receipts which you received from those charitable organizations.

If you are filing your tax returns online then just keep your receipts with you, so that you can show them whenever someone asks for it. (However you have to notify about these donations while filing the returns online).

Under the Income Tax, India.

If you have filed your income taxes or if you are filing your income taxes for the first time, then Section 80C is a must read section for all. Section 80C is the single most important provision under Income Tax India. You save a lot of Tax money utilizing this section carefully.

One can invest upto Rs 1 Lakh in various approved schemes to save Tax. This is irrespective of how much money you earn and under which tax slab does your taxable income lie.

Investing money properly will help you save taxes of about (upto) Rs 30000. This investment of Rs 1 Lakh is deducted from your taxable income thereby reducing the tax liability.

The invesments which you can make -:
1. Contribution to Provident Fund
2. Contribution to Public Provident Fund.
3. Payment of life insurance premium
4. Investment in pension plans
5. Investment in Equity Linked Saving Schemes of mutual funds
6. Investment in Infrastructure bonds
7. Investment in National Savings Certificate

The amount of money which you pay for your Home loan is eligible for income tax deduction. If you are paying education fees for your children then too, this amount will get deducted from your income.

Few points to be noted here are-:
1. There is a maximum limit of amount which you can invest under each scheme. This maximum limit vary from scheme to scheme.

So, keep the above points in mind while making an investment or filing your tax returns. Its better to invest in those schemes which will help you save taxes. So, next time you visit your Charted accountant, do ask him/her about Section 80C.

Tax season is around and everyone must be worried of filing their Income taxes. At this point of time you require a good Online Income tax calculator which can help you know the exact amount who need to submit to Income Tax department.

Tax rules for different countries vary, however I will try to cover different Tax calculators for different countries like India, USA, UK, Singapore.

Free Income Tax Calculator for India : http://law.incometaxindia.gov.in/TaxmannDit/xtras/taxcalc.aspx
The above calculator is official calculator by Indian Income Tax department, it takes into account the newest tax rules. I will try to post free taxalculators for US, UK too.

Its time to Calculate your Income taxes and file your Tax returns.

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