A large chunk of Indian Investors look out for Fixed Income Saving Instruments, which comprise of several products ranging from Bank Fixed Deposits, Postal Savings, Government Bonds and Public Provident Fund and Income Funds or Liquid Funds Schemes of Mutual Funds, to name the few. Of all the Fixed Income Instruments, Bank Fixed Deposits perhaps account for more than 50% of Indian Savings. During the past one and half year, Interest Rates on Bank Fixed Deposits (also called as Term Deposits) have come down drastically. Nowadays, the Interest Rates on Bank Term Deposits of Nationalized Banks and Major Scheduled Banks are in the range of 6 to 8% depending upon the tenure and the popular Postal Savings such as NSC, KVP and PPF offer 8%. It is obvious that the Investors would look out for better alternatives in the Fixed Income Products.
If you are seeking higher returns than Bank Deposits and Postal Savings and if you do not want to lock in your funds for longer durations, you might consider investments in Company Deposits, which offer returns in the range of 9% to 12%. Although the returns on Company Deposits are much better than any other Fixed Income Instruments but you must understand various aspects such as risk, liquidity, taxation and returns before you make up your mind to invest in Company Deposits. Here are few salient features of Investments in Company Deposits.
Risk: Company Deposit is an Unsecured Loan for the Company, that is, as an Investor you do not have any lien on the assets of the company. In case the company is facing financial difficulties or it is likely to become bankrupt, Lenders of Secured Assets would get the first priority and your turn comes only after all the Secured Loans have been repaid by the company. As compared to Company Deposit, Bank Deposit is much safer because the repayment of the deposit up to Rs. 100,000 is guaranteed by DICGC (Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation of India). Safety of your Deposit depends upon the overall Financial Health of the Company.
Liquidity: Although the Company Deposits are issued for the tenure ranging from 1 to 5 years but the Company Deposits are neither Listed on the Stock Exchanges nor Transferable. Generally, the conditions for premature withdrawal are not favorable and therefore, Company Deposits may be termed as more illiquid as compared to Mutual Funds and Bank Deposits.
Taxability: Interest Income from Company Fixed Deposits is taxable in the hands of the Investor and the issuing companies are supposed to deduct tax before paying interest to the investors. The interest income has to be shown under the heading "Income from Other Sources" in your Income Tax Return. You must take the decision to invest in the Company Deposits based on the Tax Bracket applicable to you.
Return: Rate of Interest varies with the companies. Many companies offer the deposits with cumulative interest option with monthly, quarterly or yearly cumulative interest in which case the interest earned gets reinvested at the same interest rate and thus resulting in better yields. Options with monthly cumulative interest provide the highest effective yield. At present, the effective yields on deposits of various companies are in the range from 9% to 14%.
How to Invest: Nowadays, many Online Stock Trading Companies and Brokerage Houses such as HDFC Securities, and ICICI Direct offer online and offline investment facility in Company Deposit.
Factors to be kept in mind while investing in Company Deposits
· Know about the financial position of the company:
· Know the Promoters and their track-record.
· Look out for the profit making companies and the ones that regularly pay dividends.
· Check out the ratings given by Credit Rating Agencies such as CRISIL and CARE.
· Keep a watch about any adverse reports or news about the company.
· Ascertain about the servicing standards such as Mode of Interest Payment and Repayment of Principal Amount, and promptness in the issuance of TDS certificates.
· Learn about the penalties and other terms and conditions for premature withdrawal
· Don't park your funds with one Company. Spread the funds and invest in the Companies engaged in different sectors.
· Risk involved in investing with smaller companies is definitely more than the risk of investing with large corporates of the likes Tata Motors, HDFC etc.
How often do you trade in Stocks and Futures and Options? Do you know that besides the brokerage charges, you end up paying substantial amount by way of statutory charges especially if you are a short term trader or a trader in Intra-Day and Derivatives? If you check the Contract Notes issued by your stock broker, you will realize that the extra charges add up significantly to your expense side and thereby eat away your profits. If you are a long term trader, it hardly matters whether you know the extra charges that you have to pay to your broker in addition to the brokerage charges. However, for traders who trade in stocks and futures and options regularly, it makes sense to know the statutory charges payable on stock and derivative trading.
When you trade in the Indian Stock Markets, you have to pay different types of statutory charges such as ST (service tax), Education Cess, STT (Securities Transaction tax), Turnover Tax, Stamp Duty and Exchange Transaction Charges. You may wonder why you should know it, as ultimately, the charges are statutory and therefore, the same must be paid. Well, with the right information in hand, you can easily assess the quantum of profit or loss before taking the decision to enter or exit from a particular trading position. Besides, if you know the statutory charges, you can verify whether your broker is billing you the right charges.
Here is a list of Statutory Charges payable on Equity and Derivative Trading in India.
1. Service Tax: 10% on the brokerage amount
2. Education Cess: 3% on the Service Tax
3. Stamp Duty: The rate varies with the State. In Maharashtra, the present rate is 0.01% of Traded
Turnover for Delivery Trades and 0.002% for Cash and Margin Intra-Day Trades, and Futures and
Options
4. Securities Transaction Tax:
Cash - Delivery Segment: 0.125% of Traded Turnover; applicable on both Buy and Sell Side transactions
Cash - Non Delivery (Intra-Day Transactions) Segment: 0.025% of Traded Turnover; applicable only on Sell Side transaction
Futures Segment: 0.017% of Traded Turnover; applicable only on Sell Side transaction
Options Segment- when not exercised: 0.017 per cent on option premium; payable by the option seller
Options Segment- when exercised: 0.125 per cent on the settlement price of the option; payable by the purchaser
5. Exchange Transaction Charges:
Cash Segment: NSE - 0.0035% of Traded Turnover; BSE - 0.00348% of turnover
Futures Segment: 0.002% of Traded Turnover
Options Segment: 0.05% of Traded Turnover
6. SEBI Turnover Tax:
Cash Segment: 0.0002% of Traded Turnover
Futures Segment: 0.0002% of Traded Turnover
Options Segment: 0.0002% of Traded Turnover
In the End:
Different brokers adopt different systems. Some of the brokers include all the charges except Service Tax, Education Cess and STT (these three components need to be shown separately in the contract notes as per the statutory requirements) in the brokerage itself whereas some brokers bill everything separately to you. Therefore, please check with your broker before opening the trading account.
Steuersoftware Wiso Sparbuch 2010 als Video-Review. Es werden die Funktionen und Zusatzprogramme vorgestellt. Präsentiert von www.meinesteuersoftware.de
Der Raiffeisen Ausblick auf die Aktien- und Rentenmärkte in Europa und USA vom 17. Oktober 2008: In dieser Raiffeisen-Podcast Episode skizziert Helge Rechberger, Leiter der Aktienmarktanalyse der Raiffeisen Zentralbank, die aktuellen Regierungsmaßnahmen und deren Auswirkungen auf die amerikanischen und europäischen Finanzmärkte. Ist damit der Höhepunkt der Krise überwunden? Erscheint in Zeiten wie diesen das Sparbuch als die einzige empfehlenswerte Anlageform? Informieren Sie sich in dieser Episode zum Marktausblick vom 17. Oktober 2008. Nun auch auf youtube!
It is the season of Income Tax Returns, collection of Form 16, Form 16A and other details from your employers, banks, companies and from many other institutions and organizations where you have invested your money and the investment qualifies for deduction of tax at source. In the world of online transactions, Income Tax Department has initiated some extraordinarily good steps for the common taxpayers like I and you. Apart from filing online tax returns, you can now verify the details of tax credits, TDS, tax refunds and other important details online through the website of Income tax Department.
What are the benefits of verifying tax credits online?
It enables you to ascertain the correctness of TDS and TCS claims in the Tax Returns filed by you with the Income tax Department.
You can verify TDS and TCS reported by the tax Deductors and Collectors and in case if the data does not match, you can take up the matter pertaining to any deficiencies or mismatches with your Deductor or Collector so that the corrective action can be taken by them by filing an updated E-TDS return with NSDL with your correct PAN or TDS amount. For instance, I had recently come across a case of mismatch in TDS data for my Term Deposit with a nationalized bank. The bank was issuing me TDS Form 16A since last three years but the data was not uploaded due to some technical problems. I would never have come to know about the mismatch if I were not to verify the online data about tax credit.
Mistakes can happen at your end as well especially in respect of the PAN and TAN. In such cases, you can identify claims made by you using invalid TAN. In all cases where TAN is invalid the "Name of the Deductor" is mentioned as "INVALID TAN" and in all such cases no match is possible. The TAN in these cases would have to rectified by you by filing a revised Return of Income with correct TAN.
You can also see the details of Tax Refunds sent to you by the Income Tax Department
How to verify tax credits online?
The entire process is very simple. Here is the step-by-step procedure.
Open the website of Income Tax Department E-Filing
Click on the Link "New User Register"
Enter your PAN and Press 'Click Me" button. Next, you will come across a page asking you to enter your date of birth, email id and password. This completes the registration procedure. Remember your password. Your login id is your PAN. Once you have successfully registered on the Income Tax site, you can go back to home page and login.
On successful login, you will see a page with various options on the top.
On the right top side, you will see "My Account", under which you will find several options. Now, click on'View Tax Credit Statement (Form 26AS) and
fill in all the details such as Assessment Year, Date of Birth and the CAPTCHA code and submit.
Next, press confirm and you will be taken to another website and webpage, which will show you Form 26AS containing all the details of Tax Credit such as TDS, TCS and Tax Refund
Summing Up:
With the easy access to online tax returns and user-friendly website of Income Tax Department, it has become extremely simple to file your returns electronically and to check your tax credits and tax refunds online. You may visit Financial Awareness Portal for a detailed procedure with screenshots
Having stayed at La Giraudiere previously for a working holiday I decided, 7 years later, to return as a paying guest. For your information, La Giraudiere is, or was, an old Charente property which is currently being renovated and converted into a holiday hamlet or tourist complex. During my second visit I came across an old discarded tourist leaflet describing a natural phenomenon - "Dune du Pyla" which also goes by the name of "Dune du Pilat".Totally absorbed by the description of this natural phenomenon, it's natural beauty and yet horrific size, I felt compelled to set off the next morning to see if it existed for myself.
After breakfast I set off early from La Giraudiere, map in hand, on my quest. From Brossac I headed north along the D731 in the direction of Barbezieux which is 18 km north of Brossac, at Barbezieux I picked up the N10 or route national 10 direction Bordeaux.
At Bordeaux I followed the signs for Arcachon which lies 8km north of my Goal - the dune. Sixty minutes or so and some 100 kilometers into my journey I entered the tall pine forest where French Kings once hunted and found myself totally surrounded by pine trees to the left, the right and as far as the eye could see. The sun was just commencing to pierce the morning mist and upon opening my window I was overwhelmed by the pungent aroma of the pine forest.
The sun was beginning to win its battle against the morning mist which was dispersing with all haste as I advanced nearer and nearer to my goal. At the same time the landscape began to change with the pine trees appearing to lean in awe of something greater and then, suddenly, there it was towering above the tall pines and standing defiantly in front of me. I approached slowly, trying not to lose sight of this magnificent phenomenon whilst keeping one eye on the road. I followed until I saw a sun burnt and wind blasted statue standing some 105 meters high and over 2500 meters wide - yet it was always moving, rising and advancing inland as though retreating from the blue ocean - yes, this natural golden phenomenon was truly awe-inspiring. I had arrived at the Dune du Pilat - the largest sand dune in Europe.
After parking my car I embarked on the climb to the peak of the Dune and with each rising step the views of the land and sea were unbelievable and on reaching the top - "Oh what a reward! - the sheer magnificence of the colours of the blue Atlantic pushing the golden sand dune ever inland into the retreating green pine forest - a sight which will remain vividly in my memory for ever. The pilat dune on the Coastline south west France is a national heritage site and is listed as the highest sand dune in europe allthougth its hieght and length is constantly changing with the westerly winds. The dune receives hundreds of thousands of visitors each year and is a favorite amoung paragliders and sand boarders. The nearest towns are Pyla sur mer, La Test De Buch and Arcachon. Take my word for it - this is a visit that should not be missed.
