Income tax benefits for senior citizens: Here is all you need to know in brief

When it comes to income tax, senior citizens and very senior citizens are given higher tax exemption limits as compared to general taxpayers. This is because of their age and health concerns, expenditure on which can be quite high. So here we list exemption limits granted to senior citizens and very senior citizens for the financial year 2018-19:

Senior citizens
 They are given higher exemption limits compared to other citizens. The exemption limit for the financial year 2018-19 granted to the senior citizens is Rs. 3,00,000 and compared to Rs. 2,50,000 for other taxpayers. An additional benefit of Rs. 50,000 is also granted to senior citizens.

Very senior citizens

Very senior citizens are granted higher exemption limit compared to other taxpayers. The exemption limit for the financial year 2018-19 granted to the very senior citizens is Rs 5,00,000 compared Rs. 2,50,000. An additional benefit of Rs. 2,50,000 is also granted to the very senior citizens.A senior citizen must be 60 years of age or above but less than 80 years, while a very senior citizens must be 80 years of age or above.

From the assessment year 2018-19 onwards, any taxpayer filing income tax return in Form ITR 1/4 and having a refund claim in the return or having total income of more than Rs. 5,00,000 is required to furnish the return of income electronically with or without digital signature. Very senior citizens are granted relaxation from e-filing under the Income-tax Law. 

Also, very senior citizens, with income of more than Rs. 5,00,000, can file their return of income in paper mode too.  Every person whose estimated tax liability for the year is Rs. 10,000 or more, should pay tax in advance, in the form of "advance tax", it is stated in section 208 of the tax law. However, section 207 gives relief to senior citizens from payment of advance tax. As per section 207 a senior citizen not having any income from business or profession, is not liable to pay advance tax.

Another significant break available to senior citizens is in the form of Section 194A, which states that no tax should be deducted at source from payment of interest to them up to an amount of Rs 50,000.