Your guide to submit investment proofs
Well, it is the month of Valentine. Though we have surpassed February 14, the fervour is still – as the cliché goes – in the air. If you eavesdrop on conversations, you would often hear a single lament from the enthusiastic partner. “Couldn’t you express your love with a gift, no matter how small!” The response would often be, “I don’t need gifts and proofs to prove my love.”
Well, the situation is the same when it comes to your investment declaration, albeit with a role reversal – your employer would be sending you incessant reminders to submit your investment declaration proofs for more than a fortnight and you would keep it off the boil.
Whether you believe it or not, investment declaration and proofs are as essential as gifts. Even though you have saved you need to declare and submit proofs to claim the benefits. How else do you expect your employer to know the taxes that need to be deducted upfront.
Just like your nagging wife, who would go on a spending spree citing “You never gifted me anything for Valentine, the employer too would go on a deduction spree and cut more than required. He would disregard the Rs. 25,000 you paid for health insurance, the Rs. 2 lakhs you paid as rent, tuition fee of Rs. 60,000 you bear each year unless you remind them again in writing along with the essential proofs.
I am sure you are drawing similarities to the red rose you gifted your love one Sunday and the necklace you bought two months ago. Your employer is stricter than your lover and won’t just go by words, but bills as evidence.
Here are the investment proofs that you would need to gather.
So, to claim HRA you would need copies of rent agreement and receipts of rent payment from the landlord and his/her PAN number. For home loan, you would require the interest certificate from financier and completion certificate from the builder. If you have let out your house, then you would have to also provide the details of rent received, and property taxes actually paid.
For other investments such as insurance, NSC, PPF, bank and postal fixed deposits, NPS and tax-saving mutual funds you would need the copy of the premium receipt, investment certificate or the passbook in your / spouse / dependants’ name and investment date. For expenses such as tuition fee and education loan repayments, you would have to provide receipts and certificate of interest actually paid, if any.
Checkout: Before you rush to save more taxes