Sanjay received ₹11.98 crores against his ESOPs and paid zero tax

Tax officer said it was salary/perquisite and demanded ₹3.60 crores as tax

But here is how the Delhi High Court allowed him to pay ZERO tax. 🧵👇 [1] Facts of the case

🔶 Sanjay was granted Flipkart ESOPs in 2012.

🔶 After PhonePe’s separation, the value of those ESOPs dropped sharply.

🔶 Flipkart paid employees USD 43.67 per ESOP for the value drop.

🔶 There was no contractual obligation for this.

Pradeep sold a property where his minor daughter also held a 50% share.

Father paid tax on his 50% share. Minor paid 0% capital gains tax.

No clubbing?

Here's how and why the Tribunal allowed ZERO tax on minor's share👇🧵 [1] Facts of the case

🔶 After his wife’s death, Pradeep and his minor daughter each held 50% in the property.

🔶 To sell and fund her education, he went to the City Civil Court.

🔶 Court allowed sale only if the daughter’s 50% was kept in a bank under the Registrar.

Ramesh and Suresh both took a ₹60 lakh home loan

Both kept ₹8 lakh aside as their emergency fund

But Suresh finished his loan 6 years earlier and saved ₹19,25,307 in interest without paying a single extra rupee

Here’s all about Home Loan OD to save interest 🧵👇 [1] A Home OD loan works like a regular home loan, except it links your loan to an overdraft account.

🔸 Every rupee you park there reduces your interest-bearing principal:

🔸Interest = Loan – OD balance.

And you can withdraw the money anytime — EMIs continue as usual.

Suraj took a ₹60 lakh home loan for 20 years at 9% p.a.

He followed these simple hacks and SAVED ₹30,62,400 in interest

Here’s how to cut years off and save up to 44% in interest 🧵👇 [1] For the first decade, most of your EMI feeds interest, not ownership.

🔸After 10 years (120 EMIs), you still owe ₹42.6 lakh—only ₹17.4 lakh of principal is paid.

🔸This is why timing your prepayments matters.

A taxpayer forgot declaring her interest income of just ₹5,000

She got an income tax notice for this

How? AIS mismatch. Here are 10 critical AIS points to avoid such notices🧵 [1] Bank interest → Schedule OS + TDS
🔸 Report gross FD/RD/savings interest in Schedule OS

🔸 Match TDS in Schedule TDS; don’t net off

🔸 If AIS shows multiple banks, aggregate before filing

Zerodha has just launched a SECONDARY demat account feature

We analysed Abhijit’s case. He paid ₹1,60,000 more in taxes last year.

But now with this feature, taxpayers can save lakhs of taxes each year due to FIFO rules

Here’s how it plays out differently with one vs two Demats 👇 [1] What’s new?

🔸 Zerodha now lets you open a secondary demat linked to the same trading account.

🔸 Earlier separate FIFO was unavoidable as all holdings sat in one account.

Now FIFO is applied per account, letting you split long-term investments from short-term trades.

Nilesh, an NRI, earned ₹15 lakh from shares & bonds

Under normal provision, he’d pay ₹3,60,750 in tax

By using special provisions for NRIs we helped him SAVE ₹87,750 in taxes

Here’s how NRIs like Nilesh can do the same 🧵👇 [1] What is Chapter XII-A?

🔸 Applies only to NRIs investing in “foreign exchange assets” (shares, debentures, deposits, govt securities bought in forex)

🔸 Offers flat tax rates instead of slab rates

🔸 Gives certain ITR exemptions

One of our client (Ram) was about to pay ₹1,87,500 extra in taxes while selling his house

We added legally allowed costs and reduced his tax

List of all allowable costs while calculating capital gains 🧵👇 [1] Cost of acquisition is more than just the purchase price

As per Section 55 of the Income Tax Act, you can include:
🔸 Stamp duty & registration
🔸 Brokerage or commission
🔸 Capital improvement expenses
🔸 Legal & documentation charges

Priya set-off her F&O loss from capital gains

This helped her claim deductions of ₹1.93 lakhs from other sources and reduce surcharge from 15% to 10%

However, income-tax rejected and she had to pay ₹2.28 lakhs more in tax, penalty & interest

Here's what Tribunal decided🧵👇 [1] Let’s begin with the income profile:

🔸 Business Loss (F&O): ₹11.6 lakh
🔸 Long-Term Capital Gains (LTCG): ₹1.02 crore
🔸 Interest Income: ₹9.38 lakh
🔸 Deductions claimed under Chapter VI-A: ₹1.93 lakh

Mrs. Damani sold a ₹5.98 Cr flat in Powai

To claim a Section 54 exemption, she bought a ₹3.85 Cr Lodha flat from her husband

Income-tax officer denied the exemption

But here’s how she was still able to take the exemption 🧵👇 [1] Section 54 Basics

Claim exemption if:

🔸 You sell a residential property

🔸 Reinvest gains in another house

🔸 Buy within 2 yrs (or 1 yr before sale)

Exemption = lower of capital gain or new house cost.

Rahul, a full-time investor, made a profit of ₹7 lakhs from sale of shares.

He assumed: “My income is within ₹12 lakhs. Hence, no tax.”

He got a tax shock of ₹74,375. Read this to avoid any tax shocks🧵👇 [1] Rahul’s income mix looked like this:

🔸₹3L Intraday loss
🔸₹2.5L F&O Gain
🔸₹3.5L STCG from equity
🔸₹4L LTCG on long-term holdings

By his calculation: ₹2.5 + ₹3.5 + ₹4 − ₹3 = ₹7L net → below ₹12L → tax-free.

But that’s not how taxes work.

During FY23, taxpayers paid capital gains taxes worth ₹9,751 Crores

People end up paying much more than they need to. Why?

Because it’s complex to comprehend different holding periods & tax rates

But no more. A simple thread for you to refer at all times for FY26🧵👇 [1] Availability of first Basic Exemption Limit

🔸Basic exemption limit of ₹4 lakhs under new regime can be set off against the capital gains

🔸The same first applied on normal income, then on capital gains

Every year, more than ₹1 lakh crore is withdrawn from Provident fund.

But PF withdrawal may even attract a 30% tax at times.

Here’s your complete guide on taxation on withdrawal of PF and NPS balance🧵👇 [1] EPF follow the EEE model—Exempt–Exempt–Exempt:

🔸First E: Contributions are exempt u/s 80C or 80CCD
🔸Second E: Interest during the period is exempt
🔸Third E: Withdrawals are exempt at maturity

But EEE isn’t always true. Let’s understand the exceptions and taxation👇

Did you know?

Transferring FDs to your parents is allowed for saving taxes.

Here's a detailed note about this topic🧵👇 [1] The Setup

You gift a large sum to your senior citizen parents, who then invest it in high-yield FDs.

Since they are in a lower tax slab, the interest earned is taxed at a lower rate or may even be exempt.

Surbhi, an NRI, sold Indian shares worth ₹4 crores and paid ₹0 in tax.

Was she evading taxes? No!

Here’s how NRIs legally pay ₹0 tax despite high capital gains👇🧵 [1] Is it really possible?

Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) can eliminate long-term capital gains tax by reinvesting sale proceeds into specified assets within six months.

Section 115F, read with Section 115C of the Income Tax Act, unlocks this powerful exemption.

Non-resident Indians (NRIs) remitted $129.4 Billion (~₹11,03,911 Crores) to India

There are 1.36 crore NRIs. If you are an NRI or plan to move out, this post is for you.

Decoding all about taxation of NRIs [A thread🧵👇] [1] How to determine if a person is resident or non-resident?👇

An individual will be considered a resident if he/she satisfies any 1 condition:
🔸Resides in India for 182 days or more in last FY
🔸Stayed in India for 60 days or more (last yr) & 365 days or more (last 4 yrs)

Rajesh sold a flat for ₹1.2 Cr. He got ₹14 lakhs CASH that he deposited in bank

Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) reported this to income tax (IT)

Rajesh was asked to explain source of cash deposit

Here's how a 75-member FIU team helps IT identify tax evasion at scale🧵👇 [1] About FIU-IND

FIU – India is India’s central agency for combating money laundering and terrorist financing

It operates under the Ministry of Finance, empowered by the PMLA, 2002

It's an intelligence and analysis unit, not a law enforcement body

A client at TaxBuddy sold two of his properties in Nashik and had ₹1.2 crores of capital gains.

He wanted to move and buy a house in Mumbai.

We reduced his tax liability to ZERO. Here's how🧵👇 [1] Capital Gains Exemption

Typically, when you sell 1 house to buy another one, the gains are exempt under Section 54.

You can sell 1 property & buy 2 residential properties to claim exemption.

But complexities in exemption arise when you have sold 2 properties.

PMS have over ₹4.5 lakh crore+ worth of AUM

However, they come with serious tax inefficiencies which many don't know

Here's how a PMS is taxed vs an equity mutual fund🧵👇 [1] Capital Gains Tax

Mutual Funds enjoy a pass-through structure. Tax is levied only when you redeem units.

But PMS? Each trade the manager executes inside your demat attracts tax immediately.

A user at TaxBuddy sold his flat in Mumbai and had ₹1.95 crores of capital gains.

He wanted to move to his hometown and wanted to buy 2 floors.

His tax liability was reduced to ZERO. Here's how🧵👇 [1] Capital Gains Exemption

When you sell a residential property and buy another residential property, your capital gains are exempt.

This exemption is available under section 54.

But there are conditions; let's break them down:

The Govt owes ₹1,18,418.4 Cr to people for SGBs

As Gold's price rose ~45% b/w 2021 and 2024, the government realised that launching SGBs was a blunder.

Here's a detailed breakdown of government's costliest borrowing mistake🧵👇 [1] Problem of Gold imports

India imported gold worth over ₹2.1 lakh crores in 2014-15.

This commodity, especially loved by Indians, led to a significant current account deficit.

Government thought of countering this problem through SGBs.