J. - BENEFIT FOR NPS SUBSCRIBERS - DIRECT TAXES - Finance Bill, 2017

J. BENEFIT FOR NPS SUBSCRIBERS Tax-exemption to partial withdrawal from National Pension System (NPS) The existing provision of section 10(12A) provides that payment from National Pension System (NPS) trust to an employee on closer of his account or opting out shall be exempt up to 40% of total amount payable to him. In order to provide further relief to an employee subscriber of NPS, it is proposed to amend the section 10 so as to provide exemption to partial withdrawal not exceeding 25% of the contribution made by an employee in accordance with the terms and conditions specified under Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Act, 2013 and regulations made there under. This amendment will take effect from 1st April, 2018 and will, accordingly, apply in relation to the assessment year 2018-19 and subsequent assessment years. [Clause 6] Rationalisation of deduction under section 80CCD for self-employed individual The existing provisions of section 80CCD provides that employee or other individuals shall be allowed a deduction for amount deposited in National Pension System trusts (NPS). The deduction under section 80CCD (1) cannot exceed 10% of salary in case of an employee or 10% of gross total income in case of other individuals. However, under the provisions of section 80CCD (2) of the Act, further deduction to an employee in respect of contribution made by his employer is allowed up to 10% of salary of the employee. Thus, in case of an employee, the deduction allowed under section 80CCD adds up to 20% of salary whereas in case of other individuals, the total deduction under section 80CCD is limited to 10% of gross total income. In order to provide parity between an individual who is an employee and an individual who is self-employed, it is proposed to amend section 80CCD so as to increase the upper limit of ten per cent of gross total income to twenty per cent in case of individual other than employee. This amendment will take effect from 1st April, 2018 and, will accordingly, apply in relation to assessment year 2018-19 and subsequent years. [Clause 33]