Everyone wants to and needs to file taxes. The problem is there is lack of proper knowledge on how taxes are calculated
Basically, there are 4 slabs in Income tax. In a financial year, if your Taxable Income is
Up to Rs. 2.5 lakhs -- No tax
Rs. 2.5 lakhs - Rs. 5 lakhs -- 10%
Rs. 5 lakhs - Rs. 10 lakhs -- 20%
Above Rs. 10 lakhs -- 30%
You all know this very well, but there is a misconception
For example: If your yearly Income is Rs. 15 lakhs, then we assume that it is more than Rs. 10 lakhs so, 30% of Rs. 15 lakhs (Rs. 4.5 lakhs) is the tax payable. But, tax deduction doesn't work like that
Government takes
10% of 2.5 lakhs = 25,000
20% of 5 lakhs = 1 lakh
30% of 5 lakhs = 1.5 lakhs
So you have to pay 2.75 lakhs not 4.5 lakhs so you still have 12.25 lakhs to enjoy;)
But who want to give there hard earned money to the government. So, people prefer to do tax savings..
To do proper tax savings first you have to know about Taxable Income
Taxable Income=Total Income-Tax Deduction
The more Tax Deduction , less the Taxable Income. Tax Deduction can be done by investing in Tax Saving Investments like Insurance, PPF, Mutual funds,etc and make tax savings up to 1.5 lakhs (if your income is above 10 lakhs you save around 45,000 and if your income is below 10 lakhs you save about 30,000.. It may not seem as much but it's very good savings)
The Best and Common Tax Saving Investments are:
Public Provident Fund(PPF)
Mutual Funds/ELSS
PPF is risk free but returns are less
MF/ELSS has high returns and also highly risky