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Tax benefits of Insurance in India
Heard of the Phrase Icing on the Cake!!! This idiom is perfectly suits to Insurance Policies. Insurance policies does not only provide safeguard to your life but also gives you tax benefits.
The first step of every Indian who opts for tax or financial planning is to invest in Insurance Policy.
Tax benefits of Insurance in India
Let’s see how you can save tax through Insurance Policy in India.
Life Insurance Policy is a traditional plan which includes term plans, ULIPS (unit linked insurance plans), money back and whole life cover plan. All the plans except term plan are mix of investment as well as insurance, term plan gives your pure insurance. But for the purpose of taxation all these plans are treated same and the tax levied to all plans are same.
Read: Various types of Life Insurance Policies in India
Tax benefit on Life Insurance Policy in India
Premium paid is eligible for deduction u/s 80C of the I-T Act.
Maximum deduction is Rs.1.5 lakh u/s 80C.
Premium must be paid through check, credit card or online transfer, cash payment of premium is not allowed for deduction.
Minimum sum assured for claiming deduction should be 10 times of the premium paid.
B. Insurance Sum Received:
a. On Surrendering Policy before maturity:
In case the policy is surrendered before the maturity than the whole sum received from the Insurer will be taxable, if 5 premiums have not been paid. If you have surrendered the policy after paying 5 premiums than the amount received from the insurer would be tax-free.
Insurance Sum received on maturity is completely tax-free u/s 10 of the I-T Act.
c. On the Death of the Policy Holder:
Insurance Sum received on the death of the assesse by his family or legal heirs is completely tax-free u/s 10 of the I-T Act. But a death certificate of the policy holder is required to be given to the insurer along with the other documents to claim the insurance amount.
Read: 2% TDS is to deducted on Life Insurance Claims
2. Health Insurance or Mediclaim Policy
The earning members of most of the Indian households are one or two while they have dependent children and dependent parents to look after. Due to increasing cost of medical treatment Health Insurance Policy or mediclaim policy has become must for every household. Along with covering the cost of the medical expenses it also gives you tax benefits.
Tax benefit on Health Insurance India
Under Section 80D of the I-T Act assesse can claim the deduction for premium paid for Health Insurance or Mediclaim Policy for up t0 Rs.15,000 p.a. for himself, his spouse and his children. In case he also buys Health Insurance or Mediclaim Policy for his dependent parents than a separate deduction of Rs.15,000 will also be allowed for deduction and if his parents are senior citizen (60 years or above) than deduction will be of Rs.20,000. This means an assesse can get maximum benefit of Rs.35,000 u/s 80D.
But to claim the deduction, few conditions have to be met:
Assessee should be an individual or HUF (Resident or NRI).
The premium is paid by any mode other than cash. Payment by cash does not qualify for deduction.
Receipt of Mediclaim Premium is required for claiming deduction as a proof of payment.
B. Insurance Sum Received:
Any sum received from the insurer against the health insurance policy or mediclaim policy does not constitute your income and thus would be exempt. The sum received from insurer is mere a reimbursement of expenses you have incurred. Thus it would completely be tax-free. Suppose you have received Rs.1 lakh against the mediclaim policy than this amount would not be taxable as your income, since this is just a settlement of the medical expenses you have already incurred and there is no element of the income in your claim.
Many of the Insurance Companies have started Cashless Health Insurance Schemes facilities, under which you don’t need to pay any amount to the medical institutes; the medical bills are directly paid to the medical institute by TPA/Insurance Company.
Pension Plans or Annuity Plans have a very different tax treatment from life insurance or health insurance plans.
Tax benefit on Pension Plans in India
The Amount of Premium paid towards pension plans is eligible for deduction u/s 80CCC (sub-section of 80C).
The Maximum limit is Rs.1.5 lakh which is of 80C.
The Premium should be paid either by check, credit card or online transfer, cash payment does not qualify for deduction.
a. On Surrendering the Policy before Maturity:
In case the policy is surrendered before the maturity there will be two effects:
All the Deductions of Premium which have been taken shall be added back and tax has to be paid on them.
1/3rd of the amount received shall be treated as your income and taxable as per the slab rate. Remaining 2/3 of the amount must be used to purchase annuity plans as specified by IRDA. The monthly income from this annuity plan will be added to your income and taxed accordingly.
On maturity the 1/3 of the sum received will be tax-free and remaining 2/3 of the amount shall be used to purchase annuity plans as specified by IRDA. The monthly income from this annuity plan will be added to your income and taxed accordingly.
c. On the Death of the Policy Holder:
The sum received by the family or legal heirs upon death of the policy holder is completely tax-free under section 10(10D) of the I-T Act.
Due to the tax benefits Insurance Policies have become one of the most favoured investments of Indians but one has to read the terms carefully before going for any policy.
Read: Rights of Being an Policy Holder
