Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday proposed exemption to senior citizens above 75 years from filing Income Tax with having only pension and interest income as their source of income.

Share Market Live

NSE

"We shall reduce the compliance burden on our senior citizens who are 75 years of age & above - for senior citizens who only have pension & interest income, I propose exemption from filing their Income Tax return," the Finance Minister said.

Stay tuned with all the live action and updates with our Budget 2021 Live blog.

Finance Secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey said the condition to avail the exemption is that the person should have only pension income and interest from fixed deposit should accrue in the same bank.

"Generally, persons of 75 years or more have mostly pension income and the money is parked in fixed deposit from which he earns interest. For them, filing return used to be complicated. So, we have made it simpler and said banks will deduct their income tax and they need not file ITR," Pandey added.

Meanwhile, the Finance Minister announced no relief for the salaried class in the Budget.

In the previous Budget, Sitharaman introduced a new tax structure, offering an individual the choice of paying tax under the new structure with lower rates but foregoing deductions or continue paying tax under the existing tax laws and claim the applicable exemptions.

For full coverage on Budget 2021, click here

(With inputs from PTI)

(Edited by : Aditi Gautam)

First Published:Feb 1, 2021 12:50 PM IST