What Are The Tax Benefits Of Sukanya Samriddhi Account?

By Author: Neha Sharma
Total Articles: 170
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The Sukanya Samridhhi Scheme is a scheme specially for the girl child. It was flagged off by the Government of India under the ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ scheme. This scheme is to ensure that the girl child gets adequate savings of her own by the time she is 21 years of age.

How does the Sukanya Samriddhi Account scheme work?

Under the Sukanya Samriddhi scheme, an account can be opened in the name of the girl child from the time she is born till the time she is 10 years of age. The account will remain operational for 21 years from the date of opening of the account or till the time the girl gets married, whichever is earlier. Any contributions made to the account have to be made for 15 years from the date of opening of the account.
The minimum amount of deposit that has to be made under this scheme is Rs. 250 for the initial deposit. After that, a minimum sum of Rs. 250 and increases in multiples of Rs. 100 has to be deposited every year.

The maximum deposit ceiling is at Rs. 1,50,000.
This account can be opened by the parents of the girl child or any legal guardian. The birth certificate ...
... and other documents of the girl child need to be presented to the bank or post office to open this account. An amount of 50% of the balance lying in the Sukanya Samriddhi Account can be withdrawn when the girl child turns 18 years of age for the purpose of higher education or marriage.

Tax benefits of Sukanya Samriddhi Scheme:

To promote investments in the Sukanya Samriddhi Scheme, the Government has given a tax deduction to any contributions made to this account. This deduction can be availed under Section 80C of the Income Tax Act up to a maximum of Rs. 1,50,000. This deduction gets reduced from your taxable income and saves tax. However, the total deduction under Section 80C is also restricted to Rs. 1,50,000. Investments such as life insurance policy, National Savings Certificate, Senior Citizen Saving Scheme, Public Provident Fund are clubbed together under Section 80C.

Apart from this, any interest earned on this account is exempt under the Income Tax Act. Exempt income means that income is not considered as taxable income for the purpose of filing the Income Tax return. The tax benefits under the Sukanya Samriddhi account scheme are similar to the Public Provident Fund scheme. This makes it a very beneficial scheme to invest funds for a girl child.

Author Bio:- Neha Sharma is a finance student who loves to write in her free time. She haSukanya samriddhi accountSukanya samriddhi account. Through her work, she has explained its tax benefits