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Have you all heard of the new tax regime? Implemented on April 1, 2023, the fresh legislation robs people making debt fund investments of indexation benefits. It applies only to specific funds where equity investments fail to surpass 35% of their assets. Do you know what it implies? Mutual funds and bank FDs are more or less the same now! Both will be taxed in the same way. The silver lining to this cloud is that debt mutual funds will continue to offer tax benefits, making them more attractive to FDs. Let's examine the specifics and see what the issue is really about.
Tax Benefits of Debt Mutual Funds It seems debt funds are hard to compete with. Despite losing out on long-term capital gains (LTCG), they still lead the way, leaving bank FDs behind. The tax benefits they offer are listed and elaborated below:
The case of debt fund investments is slightly different though. As long as the debt mutual fund is untouched, capital gains tax incidence will not occur. Only when it is redeemed or transferred to a different mutual fund scheme will the capital gain tax be due. The only exception is in the event of a dividend payout under a debt-oriented fund scheme. The tax applied will be at the marginal tax slab rate. In other words, the tax due on debt MFs may be postponed.
One of the biggest advantages of debt MFs is that you can carry forward capital losses to other financial years and lower your taxable income. However, there is a distinct method of doing so as per the income tax laws. Let us explain through an example where there is a capital loss from debt MFs. Let’s say you incurred a capital loss of INR 30,000 from debt mutual funds and gains of INR 80,000 from equity shares. Your taxable income will now be INR 50,000 at the income tax rates applicable on the income slab. The capital gains will drop. Likewise, you may encounter a situation where losses from debt MFs surpass aggregate capital gains. Situations similar to this one will allow the individual to carry forward the capital losses for a maximum of seven assessment years, as long as the loss amount is hard to counterbalance in a financial year. What if there is a capital gain from debt MFs? In these circumstances, the short-term capital gain can be utilised to make up for any short-term losses on other assets. Likewise, long-term capital gains can set off long-term losses. Knowing the Tax Rules for Counterbalancing Gains/ Losses Capital gains ensuing from the sale or transfer of certain mutual funds are called short-term capital gains. According to the new tax rule, implemented on April 1, 2023, when calculating a taxpayer’s income, short-term capital gains will be counted, and income tax rates will apply to them regardless of the holding period. Here, ‘certain’ implies those debt MFs with equity investments not exceeding 35% of assets under management (AUM). The new tax laws will not apply unless the investment was made before April 1, 2023. Do you now realise why debt mutual funds are still the preferred choice over bank fixed deposits? Despite the dearth of LTCG indexation benefits, the prior is more attractive compared to the latter. For more such updates, visit Baid Inbest LLP to enlighten yourself.
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