Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the Union Budget 2021 at 11 AM in Lok Sabha on Monday (February 1).
In a first, the Union Budget 2021 will go paperless as the Finance Ministry has decided against printing the budget documents due to coronavirus outbreak. This is the first time since Independence that the budget will be paperless,
All eyes will be on Sitharaman as crores of people are eagerly waiting for the government's stance on tax exemption, increasing the rebate cap on home loans, giving subsidies to farmers and several other crucial issues.
The salaried class is expecting that Sitharaman may announce further increase in tax rebate under section 80C and 80D.
In the current slab, a total deduction of Rs 1.5 lakh is allowed on all long term and short term serving instruments, including provident fund, pension funds, and equity linked savings scheme etc. It is widely expected that Union Minister would increase the bracket to Rs 2 lakh. It is to be noted that in current slab, the exemption limits of allowances such as children education allowance, transport allowance, medical allowance etc are very low and that's why salaried class is hopeful that Sitharaman would increase the exemption limit.
On the other hand, Section 80D allows aggregate deduction of up to Rs 25,000 in respect of payment of health insurance premium and payment made on account of preventive health check-up. The Section 80D offers deductions over and above the exemptions derived from Section 80C. It is expected that the COVID_19 pandemic may prompt the Centre to raise the limit to Rs 50,000.
Speculations are rife that Sitharaman could raise the Standard deduction limit from Rs 50,000. An increase in the tax bracket would help people save more.
