Rationalisation of exempt income under life insurance policies as per Budget 2023
Clause (10D) of section 10 of the Act provides for income-tax exemption on the sum received under a life insurance policy, including bonus on such policy. There is a condition that the premium payable for any of the years during the terms of the policy should not exceed 10% percent of the actual capital sum assured.
It may be pertinent to note that the legislative intent of providing exemption under clause (10D) of section 10 of the Act has been to further the welfare objective by subsidising the risk premium for an individual’s life and providing benefit to small and genuine cases of life insurance coverage. However, over the years it has been observed that several high net worth individuals are misusing the exemption provided under clause (10D) of section 10 of the Act by investing in policies having large premium contributions (as it is acting as an investment policy) and claiming exemption on the sum received under such life insurance policies.
In order to prevent the misuse of exemption under the said clause, Finance Act, 2021, amended clause (10D) of section 10 of the Act to, inter-alia, provide that the sum received under a ULIP (barring the sum received on death of a person), issued on or after the 01.02.2021 shall not be exempt if the amount of premium payable for any of the previous years during the term of such policy exceeds Rs 2,50,000. It was also provided that if premium is payable for more than one ULIPs, issued on or after the 01.02.2021, the
exemption under the said clause shall be available only with respect to such policies where the aggregate premium does not exceed Rs 2,50,000 for any of the previous years during the term of any of the policy. Circular no 02 of 2022 dated 19.01.2022 was issued to explain how the exemption is to be calculated when there are more than one policies.
After the enactment of the above amendment, while ULIPs having premium payable exceeding Rs 2, 50,000/- have been excluded from the purview of clause (10D) of section 10 of the Act, all other kinds of life insurance policies are still eligible for exemption irrespective of the amount of premium payable.
In order to curb such misuse, it is proposed to tax income from insurance policies (other than ULIP for which provisions already exists) having premium or aggregate of premium above Rs 5,00,000 in a year. Income is proposed to be exempt if received on the death of the insured person. This income shall be taxable under the head “income from other sources”. Deduction shall be allowed for premium paid, if such premium has not been claimed as deduction earlier. The proposed provision shall apply for policies issued on or after 1st April, 2023. There will not be any change in taxation for polices issued before this date. Hence, it is proposed to amend the Act so as to-
(i) insert a new proviso (sixth proviso) to clause (10D) of the section 10 of the Act to provide that nothing contained in this clause shall apply with respect to any life insurance policy (other than a unit linked insurance policy) issued on or after the 1st April, 2023, if the amount of premium payable for any of the previous year during the term of such policy exceeds five lakh rupees;
(ii) insert a new proviso (seventh proviso) to clause (10D) of section 10 of the Act to provide that if the premium is payable by a person for more than one life insurance
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