Readers' Corner: Taxation

I have changed three jobs in the past. I haven’t withdrawn Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) from any of the companies. I want to transfer all the three to my Universal Account Number (UAN). Can you please explain the process? I have EPF slips from my employers. Is it possible to transfer EPF without attestation or visiting the previous companies as I have changed cities? 

The process of transfer of PF balances has been made simpler after the introduction of Universal Account Number ("UAN") and its linking to the Aadhaar number of PF subscribers. If you are registered on the online portal of EPFO website, you can make the transfer claim application online. However, the two pre-requisite conditions for making the online claim should be met. Both the previous and the present PF account numbers should be available on the EPFO website and the employer should have registered the digital signature certificate of his authorised signatories with EPFO. You can proceed to file the requisite form (Form 13) and fill the required details online. The claim will be attested by either the previous or current employer company. The employer can view all the claim requests online, verify the details therein, and approve the requests. Once submitted, you can save the printable Form 13 for records and also, a print out of the pdf file is to be signed and submitted to your employer (previous or present) for completing the process of transfer of claim.

I sold two properties by obtaining power of attorney (PoA) from the original seller after making payments for the same to him. Am I liable to pay capital gains on these even though they were in the name of the earlier owner? 

We are assuming that you had purchased these two properties legitimately and full consideration was paid and you took possession of these properties. However, this was done through a PoA. If you sold these properties and handed over the possession and received the consideration. In such a situation, you would be liable to capital gain tax. The Supreme Court in the case of Maya Devi versus Lalta Prasad in February, 2014 had held that a sale transaction affected through a PoA will be legitimate and the ownership shall be conferred if the transaction is genuine. In your case, since you have purchased the property from the original owner after making the payments to him and took possession of the property, even though the properties are obtained through PoA, the tax authorities may consider the same as a 'transfer' under the Income Tax Act, 1961 (Act) and hence, liable for capital gains tax. 

The tax deduction at source done by my bank is not reflected in Form 26AS for the first quarter. The bank says that it has done it. What should I do? 

This is a common area of concern where the effect of filing of tax withholding return by the payer of  income is not reflected in Form 26AS of the payee. One of the reasons for this could be that the bank has mentioned the wrong PAN or inaccurate particulars. In this case, you should contact the bank and ask them to recheck the details uploaded by them and see if any correction is required to be made. Another reason could be delay in updating of department's system. This is a remote possibility since it generally takes a period of 15-20 days for the effect to get reflected in 26AS. You can ask the bank to share the date of filing with you so that in case there is a delayed filing, you can wait for some more time to check your 26AS. Alternatively, you can approach the bank that is required to issue a Form 16A to each payee of income detailing the income and TDS deducted by August 15, 2017 for the first quarter.