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Showing posts from October, 2011

HUF AND TAX IMPLICATIONS EXPLAINED

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What is an HUF?   Down the ages, the Hindu community has largely believed in the concept of joint families, joint income and joint property that is shared and enjoyed by all the members of the family. This concept is now recognized as a legal expression in the form of the Hindu Undivided Family (HUF)– a rather efficient tax-planning tool under the Income Tax Act.   How do you form HUF?  As the name suggests, an HUF is a family of Hindus. However, under the tax laws, even Jain and Sikh families can set up HUFs. Typically, an HUF will consist of a person who have lineally descended from a common ancestor, and includes their wives and unmarried daughters. Do note: in Maharashtra, even married daughters are recognised as HUF members.   While the senior most member is called the karta (manager), the male members are known as coparceners, and the females are referred to as members. In the ordinary sense, an HUF should consist of at least two male members. Howev...

TRAVELLING ABROAD ? TAKE FOREX CARD, GIVE "CASH" A MISS

For those who travel abroad frequently either due to personal or professional reason have to carry foreign exchange with them for using it during their stay outside the country. Most of the people carry currency notes with them which is fraught with various risks. But if you want to avoid the risk of travelling while carrying currency notes , you may seriously consider taking forex cards given by the banks for this purpose.   What is Forex Card?  Forex card is a plastic based card like a debit card or credit card, which is prepaid in nature. The person taking the card can get the desired amount in the desired currency loaded on the card which can be subsequently utilised while on tour. The person needs to approach the bank and pay in Indian rupees for the equivalent amount in foreign currency which needs to be loaded on the card. Who issues Forex Card?  Most of the to league banks in India do offer forex cards to their customers. One can approach bank like ICICI, SBI,...

HOW TO TRANSFER SHARES FROM ONE DEMAT ACCOUNT TO OTHER?

For those of us who have Demat Accounts and want to change from one Demat account to another for any reason will have to first get the holdings transferred to the new Demat Account before the account can be closed and you can fully migrate to the new account. So, if you are wondering how can you get the share holdings transferred from your current Demat account to the new one, then read on. 1.Transfer from one Demat Act to another Demat Act of the sole owner :- In case , the transfer of shares is from one Demat account to another Demat account held by the same person in his sole capacity, then he/she needs to fill delivery instruction slip giving the details of the shares to be transferred and the same shall be submitted with the depository. These delivery instruction slips are available with the depository and are like cheque leaves which we use to tranfer money from our account. 2.Transfer from Joint Demat Account :- In this case too, the delivery instruction slip will have to fil...

GOLD LOANS - GOOD OPTION IN URGENCY

Till not very long ago, gold or gold jewellery was considered to be most sacred of family possessions in India, and a family would do its all to avoid selling it or  mortgaging gold for taking a loan on it. But, slowly but steadily things are indeed changing in India with many gold loan companies setting up shop and driving home the point that there is nothing wrong in taking loan over gold. One of the gold loan Finance company asks" Jab Ghar me pada hai sona toh phir kyun hai rona?". This has resulted in huge off take in gold loan sales in the country . But does it make sense for you? Do you really understand what it is ? How can you take benefit from it ? Lets try and understand each of these in the following paragraphs. GOLD LOAN - What is it? Gold Loan is a loan given against the security of the gold bar/coin or jewellery . The loan seeker needs to mortgage his/her gold with the bank/NBFCs against which they get loans upto 75% to 95% of the gold v...

8THINGS TO HELP GET FASTER CLAIM UNDER MEDICLAIM POLICY

Its not uncommon to find people among us who have suffered at the hands of the mediclaim insurers during claim settlement. There are numerous instances where claim is rejected by the health insurance company on technical/material grounds.  This defeats the basis purpose of getting help when needed. So, what can you do to avoid this? Try these steps :-  1. Check Fine Print for Expense Coverage - The mediclaim polices generally list down the limit of expenditure that is allowed to reimbursed under room rent/ambulance hire charges etc. This  limit varies between policies of various companies and hence before you get yourself admitted to any hospital , it is always advisable to check the expense limit allowed as per your mediclaim .Any extra expenditure done on account of thee heads is generally borne by the patient himself/herself.   2. Check for exclusion in Diseases - You must also check the number and nature of diseases covered under your mediclaim before you buy...

WONDERING HOW TO CHANGE YOUR HEALTH INSURANCE? CHECK OUT HEALTH INSURANCE PORTABILITY.

After stupendous success of mobile number portability introduced by TRAI , IRDA too has taken a cue and introduced health insurance portability in India from 1st October 2011. This is a huge step in the right direction considering there was lot of discontentment among the consumers about the manner in which they were being treated by their health insurers. Some of the common grouses were: 1. The health insurance companies mandated on a waiting period for covering pre existing diseases to each and every customer once he comes in their fold, irrespective of whether or not the person had any other policy where he had served out the waiting period. So in effect , every time you changed the company , you would have had to start the waiting period all over again. 2. The insurers generally were resorting to increasing the renewal premium by a steep margin for those policyholders who have had a claim in the year. This was mostly done to discourage the policyholders from renewing the policy wi...