The Covid-19 pandemic brought monumental shifts to the way we live and work. From children not going school to attend classes to work from home culture, there have been new challenges for the common man. Household budgets have gone for a toss due to new kinds of expenses to keep working or studying amid Covid restrictions. One wouldn’t worry about expenses like office-standard WiFi, workstation, laptops for children, etc. before the pandemic.
With new found challenges for salaries individuals as well as business owners, the Union Budget 2022 could bring good news to persons in work from home jobs. Salaried individuals have not seen much relief for the last few years, but could now get the benefits of Work from home allowance.
Demand for work from home allowance
Tax services and financial services company Deloitte India has sought the benefit of work from home allowance for salaried employees recently, as per a Zee News Hindi report. It has been asked that is direct benefit cannot be provided, then a provision for tax-related relaxations should be made. The company mentioned work from home culture in the UK.
Similar request by ICAI
If the demand is acknowledged by the Finance Ministry, employees working from their place could get a work from home allowance of up to Rs 50,000. A similar request has also been made by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI).
Extension in standard deduction limit on the cards?
ICAI has also sought relief for tax payers in the standard deduction limit. The current limit of standard deduction is Rs 50,000, but it is been demanded that the limit be increased to Rs 1 lakh. Taxpayers are given relaxations as per Section 10 of Income Tax rules. This is an old rule and the limit of Rs 50,000 appears less when taking inflation into perspective.
