Letters: Selective exemption

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) exemption for those earning a salaried income of less than Rs 5 lakh a year has a big catch (“Earning Rs 5 lakh? Forget tax returns,” June 24). For these salary earners, bank interest not exceeding Rs 10,000 has also been exempted. But the exemption applies only to the interest from the savings bank account. It is worth wondering how many assessees will really benefit, since interest from fixed deposit, even if less than Rs 10,000 a year, will not be covered by the exemption. The exemption also does not cover pensioners, even if they qualify under the criteria set in the notification. This is bureaucracy at its best.

S Ravindranath, Coimbatore

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