Income Tax of India offers multiple special income tax benefits to senior citizen. Most of the senior citizens are either unaware of the special income tax benefit or don’t know how to take maximum income tax benefits. In order to help them, here is the list of Special Income tax benefits available to the senior citizen.
Definition of Senior Citizen for Income Tax Purpose
For Income tax purpose there are two categories of senior citizen. These categories are a senior citizen and super senior citizen.
- Senior Citizen – People above 60 years of age
- Super Senior Citizen – People above 80 years of age
Also Read – Income Tax Calculator Download FY 2018-19
Special Income Tax Benefits for Senior Citizen
#1 Income Tax Slab for Senior Citizen
Senior Citizen enjoys a special income tax slab benefit. They get more tax-free income. The income tax slab for senior citizen and super senior citizen is given below.
Senior Citizen Tax Slab – FY 2018-19
| Income Tax Slabs | Tax Rate | Health and Education Cess |
| Income up to Rs 3,00,000 | No tax | |
| Income from Rs 3,00,000 – Rs 5,00,000 | 5% | 4% of Income Tax |
| Income from Rs 5,00,000 – 10,00,000 | 20% | 4% of Income Tax |
| Income more than Rs 10,00,000 | 30% | 4% of Income Tax |
Super Senior Citizen Tax Slab – FY 2018-19
| Income Tax Slabs | Tax Rate | Health and Education Cess |
| Income up to Rs 5,00,000 | No tax | |
| Income from Rs 5,00,000 – 10,00,000 | 20% | 4% of Income Tax |
| Income more than Rs 10,00,000 | 30% | 4% of Income Tax |
This means senior citizen enjoys tax-free income up to 3 Lakh & super senior citizen enjoys tax-free income up to 5 Lakh.
#2 Section 80TTB – Interest Income exemption up to Rs.50000
From the financial year 2018-19, new section 80TTB has been introduced for senior citizen which allows deduction of Rs.50000 from interest income. This means if your age is above 60 years and if your yearly interest income is 1 Lakh, you can enjoy Rs.50,000 as tax-free income. You only need to consider remaining Rs.50000 as taxable income.
#3 Section 80D – Medical Insurance Premium Payment
Section 80D of income tax is for medical insurance premium payment deduction. For Non-senior citizen the limit of deduction is Rs.25000. However, senior citizen gets the benefit of Rs.50000. This means a senior citizen can pay a premium of medical insurance up to Rs.50000 and enjoy full tax benefit.
Super senior citizen also gets benefit up to Rs.50000 towards medical insurance premium payment. Additionally, they also get the benefit of the actual expenditure incurred on medical treatment.
#4 Section 80DDB – Higher deduction for expenditure on specific disease
Section 80DDB of income tax allows deduction in case of expense on medical treatment for the specific disease. Senior Citizen and Super Senior Citizen get benefit up to 1 lakh for the expense incurred on a specific disease. This new limit is applicable from FY 2018-19.
#5 Exempted from payment of Advance Tax
If you are a senior citizen and having business income, you can get an exemption from payment of advance tax. You just need to pay self-assessment tax on total income.
#6 No TDS on Interest Income
A submission of Form 15H helps senior citizen to save TDS. Similarly, if you are a super senior citizen you need to submit Form 15G to get TDS benefit on interest income. This form is applicable only if the Total Income before a deduction is less than the minimum tax slab amount.
Over to You –
I hope mentioned income tax benefits will help you in saving additional tax.
If you have any query related to income tax, you can post it in the comment section given below.