Senior citizens vs super senior citizens: Income tax benefits compared
5 min read 30 Mar 2023, 07:19 PM ISTThere is no difference between the tax rates for Senior citizens (60-80 years of age) and Super senior citizens (80+ years) in the old tax regime.
Premium
A resident Indian who is 60 years of age or older is considered a senior citizen, while a resident Indian who is 80 years of age or more is considered a super senior citizen at any point during the pertinent financial year. For these citizens, there are income tax benefits available under payment of advance tax, standard deduction, deductions under medical insurance premiums, deduction for interest earned from bank and post office, and much more. The income tax benefits for senior citizens and super senior citizens are therefore contrasted below by several industry specialists.
Suresh Surana, Founder, RSM India
The provisions of the Income Tax law provides certain benefits to senior citizens such as higher basic exemption threshold, higher thresholds for claiming deductions, etc. While certain benefits are common for both senior citizens as well as super senior citizens, certain provisions provide for a higher benefit to super senior citizens as compared to senior citizens. We have discussed such tax benefits provided to senior citizens as well as super senior citizens in the below table:
| Sr. No | Senior Citizens | Super senior citizens |
| 1. | Meaning | |
| A resident individual shall be treated as senior citizen once he/she attains the age of 60 years or more at any time during the financial year. | A resident individual shall be treated as super senior citizen once he/she attains the age of 80 years or more at any time during the financial year. | |
| 2. | Basic exemption limit under old tax regime | |
| Under old tax regime, resident senior citizen gets a basic exemption of Rs. 3,00,000, that is income up to Rs. 3,00,000 shall be exempt from tax. | Under old tax regime, resident super senior citizen gets a basic exemption of Rs. 5,00,000, that is income up to Rs. 5,00,000 shall be exempt from tax. | |
It is pertinent to note that any resident individual with taxable income up to Rs.5,00,000 shall be eligible to claim a rebate u/s 87A under IT Act. However, such basic exemption limit also determined whether the taxpayer would be required to furnish their income tax return u/s 139 of the IT Act i.e. once the basic exemption threshold is exceeded, the taxpayer would be mandatorily required to furnish their tax returns. | ||
| 3. | Option to furnish Paper return v/s E-Filing of Return of Income | |
| Senior Citizens would be mandatorily required to furnish their tax returns online on the e-filling portal | Super senior citizens have an option to file the income-tax return in paper mode in their jurisdictional tax office, provided the return is being filed in ITR 1 (Sahaj) and ITR 4 (Sugam). | |
| The above mentioned benefits differed for both senior citizens and super senior citizens. We hereinbelow discuss the similar benefits for both senior citizens as well as super senior citizens | ||
| 4. | Interest deduction u/s 80TTB of IT Act | |
According to section 80TTB of IT Act, any resident senior citizen following old regime can claim a deduction up to Rs. 50,000 against following mentioned income: - Interest on savings account and fixed deposits - Interest on deposits held in co-operative society - Interest on post office deposits | ||
| 5. | Enhanced Deduction u/s 80D on Health coverage and Medical expenditure | |
Deduction under section 80D of IT Act can be claimed by both resident and non-resident individuals with respect to Mediclaim premium, preventive health check-up or contribution to the central government health scheme. · A higher limit of Rs. 50,000 can be claimed in case such premium is paid for any senior citizen. · However, senior citizens can claim a maximum deduction of Rs. 50,000 under this section with respect to any medical expenditure incurred provided no mediclaim premium is paid by such senior citizen. | ||
| 6. | Enhanced Deduction u/s 80DDB for Medical Treatment of specified diseases | |
Deduction u/s 80DDB of the IT Act can be claimed by resident individuals for expenses incurred with respect to medical treatment of such diseases or ailments as specified in Rule 11DD of IT Rules, 1962. The quantum of deduction under this section shall be Rs. 1,00,000 for senior citizens (as opposed to Rs. 40,000 for other than senior citizens) or actual expenses incurred whichever is lower. | ||
| 7. | Relief from Payment of Advance tax | |
| An individual with tax liability exceeding Rs. 10,000 is required to advance tax in accordance with Section 208 of the IT Act. However, a resident senior citizen would not be required to pay any advance tax even if his/her tax liability exceeds the above-mentioned threshold, provided they aren’t deriving any profits from business or profession. | ||
| 8. | Filing of Form 15H for Non deduction of TDS | |
| Section 197A of IT Act enables a resident senior citizen to receive certain specified income without deducting tax on same. In order to claim such benefit, the said person will be required to make a self-declaration in Form 15H to the tax deductor that their tax liability on their estimated income during the year is NIL. | ||
| 9. | Exemption from return filing under section 194P of IT Act | |
| Section 194P of IT Act exempts resident senior citizens aged 75 years and above from filing income tax returns provided that such senior citizen derived only pension income and interest income & such interest income accrued / earned from the same specified bank in which he is receiving his pension. | ||
Siddharth Singhal, Business Head - Health Insurance, Policybazaar.com
According to Section 80D of Income Tax Act, one can avail tax benefits against the cost incurred to purchase health or critical illness insurance. The maximum deduction allowed under this section is Rs. 25,000 for self, spouse, and dependent children. However, if one or both parents are above 60 years of age or senior citizens, the maximum tax deduction allowed is Rs. 50,000.
Also, if senior citizen pays premium for self and their family members including parents i.e. all above 60 years of age, they are eligible to claim up to Rs. 1,00,000. Similarly, Section 80D also allows the policyholder to claim tax benefits for preventive health check-ups of ₹5,000 i.e. inclusive in this limit of Rs. 25,000 or Rs. 50,000.
Manu Rishi Guptha, Founder of MRG Capital
There is no difference between the tax rates for Senior citizens (60-80 years of age) and Super senior citizens (80+ years) in the old tax regime. The difference is only in the basic exemption limit. While the Super senior citizen gets an exemption of up to 5 lakhs rupees, the exemption is 3 lakhs for a senior citizen. A super senior citizen need not pay tax or file returns if his income doesn’t exceed 5 lakh rupees. But in the new tax regime, there is no separate exemption limit for senior or super senior citizens. Both get ₹2.5 lakhs as a basic exemption like a normal taxpayer.
