Taxes

Nominees Can Sell Shares. Why Not Real Estate?

Advice, Fees, Financial, Governments, Investments, Mutual Fund, Personal Finance, RIA, Taxes / By /

Hemant learnt the hard way that not all nominated assets pass on with equal ease. His late father’s mutual fund units were transmitted in less than 48 hours. But when it came to the flat in a Mumbai housing society, the brothers were treated only as provisional members. They could not sell, transfer, or fully own it without a court order. That process took almost a year and cost over Rs 2 lakh. The law says a nominee holds assets for the legal heirs in both cases. Yet financial assets move quickly because nominees can redeem or sell them with ease. Property is different because a buyer needs clear title, and nomination alone does not provide that. Financial regulators have made transmission simple and time-bound. Real estate law has not kept pace. Until that changes, many families may find that inherited property brings not comfort, but complication.

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The SGB Issue: Why Tax Certainty Matters

Advice, Financial, Governments, Investments, Personal Finance, RIA, Taxes / By /

Imagine a Test match where the host prepares two pitches — a green top for fast bowlers and a dry track for spinners. Before the match, it announces that the green top will be used, and the visiting team selects its players accordingly. After the toss, the host switches to the dry track — the one prepared for itself. In cricket, this would be called unfair play. In taxation, it is called a retrospective change. That is what the Budget 2026 proposal does by removing the capital gains exemption on Sovereign Gold Bonds (SGB) already bought.

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Virtual retro tax overshadows many positives of this Budget

Governments, Mutual Fund, Personal Finance, RIA, Taxes, Uncategorized / By /

Budget 2026 offers several promising reforms, but one provision threatens to overshadow them all: taxing capital gains on Sovereign Gold Bonds bought from the secondary market. Previously, RBI redemption was tax-exempt regardless of how the bonds were acquired; restricting this benefit only to original subscribers is effectively retrospective, with an estimated impact of about ₹8,000 crore.

Other measures are constructive—TRS-based sell-downs could deepen the corporate bond market; overseas individuals of non-Indian origin may soon invest in Indian equities; and proposals such as exempting global income of returning experts and enabling online low-TDS certificates could ease frictions for talent and startups. Yet some areas fall short, including limited relief in TCS on overseas tours and a less calibrated STT hike.

Rolling back the SGB amendment is essential to avoid reviving concerns over retrospective taxation and to let the Budget’s genuine positives shine through

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Retirement income: Systematic withdrawals win over dividends

Banking, Governments, Investments, Mutual Fund, RIA, Taxes / By /

Investors often prefer “income” like dividends over withdrawing capital, even when withdrawals are more tax-efficient.
Austin, investing ₹5 crore for retirement, shared this instinct and favoured the dividend option to avoid “touching capital.”
Behavioural research by Shefrin and Statman shows investors treat dividends as safe, approved income, while selling units feels uncomfortable.
This mental accounting bias is widespread and reinforced by the social-media push for “second incomes.”
But relying only on income requires a much larger corpus and can derail retirement planning.
Recognising these biases helps investors accept disciplined SWPs or products that withdraw only from gains.

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Loan rates should mirror unfinished homes higher risk

Advice, Banking, Financial, Governments, Investments, RIA, Taxes, Uncategorized / By /

Rajesh and Seema’s ordeal with a stalled housing project shows how India’s home loan system masks the biggest risk in real estate — that under-construction projects may never be completed. Banks and buyers treat them like ready homes, offering or taking loans at the same rates despite far higher uncertainty. With weak enforcement of RERA safeguards, homebuyers are left exposed. Differential interest rates — lower for completed homes, higher for under-construction ones — would make risks visible, protect buyers, and push the housing finance system toward fairness.

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Instant tax credit: An idea whose time has come

Governments, Taxes / By /

Imagine paying for a movie on an OTT channel but being told to wait a day before watching—just to confirm payment. Sounds absurd, right? Yet, when it comes to taxes, businesses face exactly this problem. Whether it’s TDS or GST input tax credit, parties often don’t get instant credit for the taxes, creating cash flow issues, costly reconciliations, and even write offs. Big players demand full payments upfront, but smaller businesses bear the brunt of delays. What if taxes could be paid directly to the government at the time of payment, with instant credit to both parties? It could transform India’s economy, boost trust in transactions, and level the playing field. But is such a system possible? What are the complications? Read Harsh article in Business standard to find out.

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Is it a step towards “Nyaya”?

Governments, Press, Taxes / By /

The big bang announcement on tax breaks overshadowed other important announcements like the launch of revamped CKYC 2.0 . That could be the UPI moment for the financial sector as financial inclusion and access to financial products will become easier. The move to activate the moribund annuities market is much needed as the absolute number of senior citizens are quite high in the country. The new tax bill to be introduced next week promises ” Nyaya” to the tax payers. Whether it actually delivers on the promise remains to be seen. Harsh’s take on Budget2025 published in the Business Standard.

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IT department´s stock and flow problem

Governments, Press, Taxes / By /

Lakhs of tax payers receive notices from the Income tax dept. regarding their expenses or investments being disproportionate to their taxable income for the same year – implying that the expenses or investments are from unaccounted sources. Most cases have simple explanations – the income was declared in a previous year or it is exempt income – facts already available in the tax dept database. Yet lakhs of tax payers have to duel with the tax authorities to prove their credentials. Most people emerge victorious after a long and arduous ordeal costing time and money. The tax department resources are used up in dealing with the honest tax payers & the tax evaders may escape. Harsh’s article in Business Standard on why the tax departments Data Analysis Package can cross tally more information and thus have more pointed search results more likely to net tax evaders while being bothersome for fewer honest tax payers.

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Vigilance Awareness Week 2025 (VAW2025)

Vigilance Awareness Week 2025 is being observed from October 27th to November 2nd, 2025, with the theme:

सतर्कता: हमारी साझा जिम्मेदारी (“Vigilance: Our Shared Responsibility”).

All stakeholders are encouraged to participate in the e-pledge initiative by visiting the CVC portal: https://pledge.cvc.nic.in/.