With effect from April 1, 2020, an individual has the option to continue with the old income tax regime or opt for the new one. The old income tax regime allows an individual to claim tax exemptions like HRA, LTA etc. and tax deductions like section 80C, 80D, standard deduction of Rs 50,000 etc. If a person opts for the new income tax regime, he/she has to forgo around 70 tax exemptions and deductions.
Under the Income Tax Law, a person is considered to be a senior citizen either very senior citizen Provided that he has crossed the specified age in the financial year. A person can be considered as a senior citizen if his age is 60 years but less than 80 years in a financial year. Similarly for super senior citizens the age limit is 80 years and above.
For filing ITR, the financial year is the one preceding the current financial year.
For example, an individual is filing ITR for the financial year 2021-22 (Assessment year 2022-23). income tax return Filing for income earned in the financial year 2021-22 (ie between 1st April 2021 to 31st March 2022). The last date for filing ITR is July 31, 2022. Suppose a person turns 60 in November 2021. Hence, now while filing ITR, he will be treated as a senior citizen. Similarly, if a person turns 80 in August 2021, he will be treated as a super senior citizen while filing ITR now.
Note that both April 1 and March 31 are inclusive to find out whether a person is a senior citizen or not. Thus, if someone’s birthday is on 1st April or 31st March, then he turns 60 in the financial year 2021-22, then he will be considered as a senior citizen.
Basic exemption limit for senior citizens in the old tax regime
If a person is considered a senior citizen (60 years and above) for the financial year 2021-22, his income up to Rs 3 lakh will be exempted from income tax. This is different from persons below 60 years of age, whose income is up to Rs 2.5 lakh, who are exempt from income tax.
Also, if the senior citizen’s income from all sources does not exceed Rs 3 lakh, he is not required to mandatorily file ITR (except if he meets the exemption rule).
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You have to file ITR even if the income is less than the exemption level
Basic exemption limit for very senior citizens in the old tax regime
If a person is treated as a super senior citizen (80 years and above) for the financial year 2021-22, his income up to Rs 5 lakh will be exempted from income tax. Hence, ITR Filing It will become mandatory if his income from all sources exceeds Rs 5 lakh in the financial year 2021-22 (except if he meets the exemption rule).
Basic exemption limit for senior citizens under new income tax regime
If a person opts for the new income tax regime irrespective of his age, the basic exemption limit applicable to him will be Rs 2.5 lakh. Therefore, senior citizens or very senior citizens opting for the new income tax regime will not get the benefit of the higher exemption limit. Also, once the total income exceeds Rs 2.5 lakh in a financial year, it will become mandatory to file ITR.
Senior citizens who are exempted from ITR filing
In Budget 2021, the government exempted certain senior citizens from filing ITR. As per the amendments made in the Income Tax laws, if the income of a senior citizen of age 75 years or more is from specified sources then he will be exempted from filing ITR. This will be done only if he has given a declaration for the same to the bank.
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These senior citizens are not required to file ITR