HRA deduction cannot be claimed for two houses
QI am a Central government empl-oyee and my family lives at Chandigarh in a rented house. I am posted at Delhi and paying house rent here. My spouse is a homemaker and does not file any income-tax return. Can I claim exemption by adding both the rents i.e., Chandigarh and Delhi? Presently, I am claiming HRA exemption for rent paid by me in Delhi. Please guide.
The claim of House Rent Allowance (HRA) exemption by adding rents paid at both the places of residence as mentioned in your query is not possible. One of the two places of residence needs to be chosen. However, if the location of places of residence are in different cities, you can claim HRA for the rent paid by you in respect of your residential house at your working place.
Therefore, you can continue to claim the HRA exemption in respect of rent paid for your Delhi house. However, you cannot claim HRA for the rent paid in Chandigarh.
QI am a Central government official posted at Visakhapatnam. I have been filing my returns for past 12 years and have received refund when claimed. My problem started when I tried to link my Aadhaar with PAN. The website told me that PAN which I am using was deactivated and I should contact my assessing officer (AO).
Since my AO is in Mumbai, I contacted the local income-tax office at Vizag on the issue. I was told that my PAN has been deactivated and a new PAN number has been retained. I was also told that the new PAN was allocated in 2003 which I don’t recollect having applied for.
I successfully linked my Aadhaar to the new PAN. After a few weeks, I got a notification from my department saying that TDS on income has been debited against my old PAN. I am now confused as to which PAN I should use while filing returns and claim refund. DHANYA SANJEEV
Vizag
Owning duplicate or multiple PAN cards are not permitted by law and a person who holds them could face penal action. There are strict regulations regarding owning multiple PANs, with the government imposing a fine of `10,000 on anyone who holds duplicate PAN.
This fine is imposed under Section 272B of the Income-Tax Act and is meant to be a deterrent against owning multiple PANs.
As the PAN you have been using is deactivated and the other PAN which is allotted (though you were ignorant about it) to you way back in 2003 is activated now, you are advised to continue using this PAN hereafter.
Moreover, you have successfully linked your PAN to Aadhaar. You may explain your problem to your employer and request them for filing a revised e-TDS return sharing your changed PAN which is now activated.
After the revised TDS return is filed by your employer with the changed PAN, you will get the credit of the taxes paid by your employer on your behalf in your account with the income-tax department. This will be duly reflected in your account on the website of income-tax department in Form 26AS in a week’s time from the date of filing of the TDS return by your employer.