Thanks for the relief

My wife and I are happy now. The new Government has declared some relief measures.

I am 75 years old and am a retired private sector executive. My wife is 66 and is a housewife. Both of us are suffering from diabetes, high blood pressure and other complications.

We are happy today because the new government has decided that the Withholding Tax would be exempted on any savings and fixed deposits maintained in any financial institution.

We are scared to fill up those forms and return. We just ignore these letters. We do not know whether we can claim exemptions

When I retired, I got my EPF, ETF and Gratuity payments. All that money I am keeping in several fixed deposits.

I worked in Saudi Arabia for two years. That money is also is in a fixed deposit. I am doing a temporary job in a private company now. I have about 18 Bank Accounts in various banks.

My wife sold her house and she keeps that money in several fixed deposits. She has about eight bank accounts.

We are living with great difficulty with the interest from these bank accounts. Our monthly medical bill is about Rs 40,000/=.

We get lengthy letters from banks related to Withholding Tax. We do not understand what these are.the letters do not indicate the Account Number. We do not know what this withholding tax is.

We are scared to fill up those forms and return. We just ignore these letters. We do not know whether we can claim exemptions. We are scared. We are physically and mentally not strong enough to fill up these forms.

We thank the new Government for stopping this nuisance. As senior citizens, we need peace of mind. We do not want the Government to trouble us imposing various taxes on people who are old and sick.