1. Leave allowance: An employee can use such an allowance to cover his domestic travel and can be used for air, rail, and road transport.
2.Gratuity paid to an employee also has taxation benefits. To determine the taxability of gratuity, it is important to understand whether an employee is covered by payment of gratuity act. If an employee is covered by this act, lower of the following will be exempted from tax: –
- 15 days salary based on salary drawn for each year of service.
- Rs. 10,00,000/-
- Actual gratuity received.
If an employee is not covered under the gratuity act then, the lower of the following will be exempted from tax:-
- ½ month salary for each completed year of service.
- Rs. 10,00,000/-
- Actual gratuity received.
3.New pension scheme (NPS) : In this scheme an employer contributes an amount to the NPS which is the same amount that is contributed by the employee. Both of these contributions are eligible for deduction u/s 80 CCD (2) of the act. Thus such contributions reduce the overall tax liability of the employee.
4.House rent allowance (HRA) is paid by an employer to an employee to pay any rental towards his house property. An exemption is available under such HRA. The exemption is based on the least of the following: –
- An amount equal to 50% of the yearly salary received (applicable to major Indian metros and 40% in other cases)
- Actual HRA received
- Rent paid in excess of 10% of the salary received in a year
5. Travelling allowance: Such an allowance is paid by the employer to the employee to meet his cost of travel on tour or on transfer from his work. This allowance can be completely exempt if the employee utilizes an amount equal to or more than the allowance.
6. Another option that is available to the employee is transport allowance. Such allowance is exempt up to Rs. 800/- per month i.e. 9600/- per year as a maximum deduction is available against this allowance.
7. In case a salaried employee has children, he should ask his employer to pay him children education allowance. A deduction of Rs. 100/- per month per child up to a maximum of two children is available.
8. An employee is entitled to receive perquisites from his employer. The tax on such perquisites is generally borne by the employer and is tax exempt for the employee. Perquisites include payments by the employer to the employee such as car conveyance, free food and beverages, interest free or concessional loan, sweeper/gardener/cook allowance, leave travel concession etc. These options are generally available as a part of salary structuring which an employee can provide to his employer.
9. Other general deductions u/s 80 C is also available to the salaried employee. Under this section, he can make investments in approved FD, Equity oriented MF, PPF etc. He can also pay his life insurance premiums. The total benefit available under this section if Rs. 100000/-.
10. An employee can also make several donations u/s 80 G and use that to reduce his total income. Such donations offer either 100% deduction or 50% deduction depending on the institution to which the donation is made.