Every year, while writing this post, I think I will discover some hidden insights and will plan the next year in a significantly different way. It's not that I find nothing, but no 'hidden' or 'significant' comes out. This time is no different. But there were some 'forced' events and I had to take some financial decisions after pondering for several days/weeks.
Big events of last FY:
1) Email from Income Tax for declaring foreign assets: So, I got email notice from CBDT in October-November to declare my foreign asset as they got information from 'sources'. These email came as part of Nudge2.0 where they were asking the tax-payers to reveal by self declaration, after getting information from information sharing initiative such as CRS (all counties) and FACTA(US). The panic started in corporate circles mainly. I attended one seminar organised by Microsoft Alumni group where I got to know that emails were triggered to company HRs as well.
Now, what to do? I thought of declaring at least the UK Bank account. However, in ITR1 which I already submitted, foreign asset can't be declared. When I opened ITR-2, the already submitted calculation from ITR1, made me completely confused. I took a risk by delaying the declaration until next FY. Karuna Da, the only person with this issue, was in constant touch. Although he contacted some CA, nobody was absolutely sure what to do. There was also announcement of opening a separate window to declare where citizens have to pay a one time fee, while declaring. However, until now, no such window has been opened so far I know. In summary, lack of clarity and secrecy of the issue made me very stressed in last FY. I am not getting any good advice even now, particularly related to the Msft shares. Good that I closed the EU account in Amsterdam before coming home. Anyway, this is one of the new and urgent things to take care in next FY.
The status of my foreign asset as on 29 April2026:
a) US Microsoft stocks in Fidelity: i) Total value of shares: 39,71,177/- ; ii) Total cash: 2,24,859/-
Total: 41,96,036/-
b) UK Llyod Bank account: (Tried 4 times since morning, there is error showing after login)
2) Increase in huge taxes: In the last FY, I got two raises in salary - one after appraisal and another after hardship allowance is approved. However, there is no 'real' increase in the in-hand component.
I did a quick study of the change of my salary in the last FY and how tax components have impacted. From the below table, my last year average tax per month was INR 59,355/- using old tax regime and after applying all flexi components, including LTA. In the last two months of the FY, my in hand decreased to below 2 lakh. I even contacted Arun (NeGD, payroll) thinking something is wrong. However, he told ( I also calculated) things are fine only. Maybe their amount of deduction had some issues. The below table may give some clarity and I want to put on record here. In fact, this table has been pending for so long and I am happy to do this while writing this FY review blogpost.
| Monthly (as per letter) | Annually (as per letter) | Average in hand monthly salary | Average per month Tax | |
| Offer Letter (April 2025 to June 2025) | 308333 | 3699996 | 2,38,882 | 43,660 |
| After appraisal(July2025 to Oct2025) | 331201 | 3974412 | 2,54,477 (excluding arrears) | 47,042.5 |
| After Hardship (Nov2025 to Mar2026) | No letter issued | Addition of 20K per month | 2,27,940 | 87,362.6 |
3) Decision on Old versus New tax regime:
I faced tough time collecting flexi benefit proofs for submission to NeGD. Higher taxes were bothering me anyways. I was determined to provide maximum proofs, but reality was different. Making up the documents (that too with such high figures) was making me feel extremely guilty. Declaring rent of 43K after paying 10K deemed criminal to me. The total house-loan interest also reduced to 1.1 Lakh. Also the issue of declaration of foreign asset by filling up ITR2 from next year was on my mind.
When I had to decide on declaring tax region at the start of FY2026-27, I tried calculation to the best of my ability. The TankhaPay app also helped me. I decided to go ahead with New tax regime in spite of losing ~INR 36,735/- annually. I would have to give more tax under the new regime, but there will be mental peace. Also I believe, while filing return, I might get some return as the new tax regime provides incentive on NPS and charity donation - something that you can't declare to your employer. Nevertheless, this was a big decision and I would closely track this in the new FY. The below table depicts the comparison based on my current salary.
| New tax regime | Old tax regime | |
| Taxabale income | 38,67,828 | 29,75,088 |
| Total Savings | 75,000 | 9,67,740 |
| Net tax to be paid | 769962 | 733227 |
4) Issues in my expense tracker: Since every year I make some or other correction in the expense sheet, a year-on-year comparison has become very difficult. The following issues don't have consistency- calculation of lend/return money, fixed deposits' creation/maturity and its interests, dividend, travel expense reimbursement from office, cash expenses, profit after selling MF(full amount) vs stocks(only profit amount) etc.
I am not sure of exact solution, but will keep trying removing this issues in the next FY.
Numbers at a glance:
1) Total equity investment (including NPS): INR 6.55 Lakh (~4 lakh less than the last FY)
2) Total tax paid: INR 7.55 Lakh (my highest expenditure head for this FY)
3) Total stock Dividend (not MF): INR 64,465/-
4) Total income: INR 35.18 Lakh (that hit the bank account and cash in hand- available for dispose)
5) Total expenditures: INR 29.89 lakh (includes investments too, but not lending amounts, FDs)
Details of INFLOW with observation:
1) Again, more than 90% of my income comes from salary, which is not at all a good sign. In fact, it would be more since the PF contributions are also linked with salary. Unless this percentage reduced to 50-60%, I can't openly think about quitting this income stream.
2) My net pay in last FY (as per TPay) is INR 38,02,828/-, while I got in-hand INR 31,81,696/- (after deducting tax, PF, health insurance etc). The huge tax is a concern, or maybe I am thinking just as a typical middle class!
3) My income from 'Market' crossed 1 Lakh. However, it includes both dividend, SGB interest and stock/share selling. I may segregate this head next year onwards.
4) The 'constant' passive income that I tried to generate, exceeded 1 Lakh. However, next year outlook is poor since Mridul has only two persons and Maa has stopped payment for last 4-5 months as no tenant was there. The other 'knowledge' income is also not upto the mark. Only MATI and IIM Shillong are providing some hopes.
5) Although I decided not to open FD in my accounts, I still did last year to achieve 1 lakh interest, as mentioned in last year review post. However, this was not apple-to-apple comparison. Last year two emergency FDs matured and I was close to 1 Lakh. This year, it stood at INR 58,412/-.
6) I started categorising the passenger fare as my Biz incomes since it tests my selling abilities -:)
Details of OUTFLOW with observation:
1) After shifting to new rented house at Wahhe, my regular rental expense has drastically reduced. This was not an easy decision while looking from 'society' perspective, but financially prudent decision.
2) My personal expenses seem to be on the upper side. Main culprit is the IITG tuition fee increase. Also, there included purchase of a new mobile phone, which Nina took away.
3) Childcare expenses is still under 1% of total expenses. However, it will go up this time as Majoni will start schooling. I will start tracking her monthly expenses separately. Until now, even her creche expenses are under obligation money to Nina every month.
4) I think I will remove First/Unique and use such expenses under existing head like personal/Recreation etc from next year onwards.
5) My 'Want' bracket is consistently below 10%. However, due to First/Unique being there it crosses 10% during Tezpur home setup and Pune trip. These are not exactly 'Want', but need only, right?
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