Govt looking at tax sops for Life insurance policy holders

Chidambaram said he has asked the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) to give their report on the changes in the tax structure for life insurance companies by October 10.

The slew of incentives being considered by the Finance Ministry for boosting life insurance industry include reduction in service tax on first premium, separate tax exemption limit for pension plans and greater incentives for agents selling policies.

The Ministry has formulated this proposal following a review of life insurance sector in consultation with heads of various companies and Chairman of Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) J Hari Narayan.

"Department of Revenue will examine whether, in addition to NPS, some insurance pension products as approved by IRDA may be included in the separate limit over and above the limit of Rs one lakh under section 80C of the IT Act for the purpose of income tax deduction on premium paid," Chidambaram said.

The Revenue Department, Chidambaram said, would also look into the proposal of exempting annuity policy from service tax in line with National Pension Scheme (NPS) and also reducing the levy on single premium products.

With regard to social security insurance schemes, he said the tax authorities would examine whether first year premium and subsequent premiums on such schemes like Janshri Bina Yojana (JBY) and Aam Adami Bima Yojana (AABY) could be exempted from service tax. Also the possibility of exempting micro-insurance from this levy.

He further said a similar exercise would be done for the non-life insurance sector. (MORE)