New rules from today: From income tax, savings a/cs, insurance to non-BS IV vehicles; check out the impact

New Delhi: Several important rules and regulations will change or take effect from Saturday, as April 1 marks the start of the financial year 2017-18. The rules range from regulations on personal income tax to sale and registration of non-BS IV vehicles.

Here we are listing some of the key changes in rules that will be effective from the new financial year 2017-18.

Income Tax rules

Personal income tax: Personal income tax for people with income in the slab of 2.5 lakh to 5 lakh to be reduced to 5 percent instead of 10 percent. This will reduce their tax liability to half while all other tax payers above this slab will also be benefited in terms of lesser tax of Rs 12,500 per individual.

Surcharge of 10 percent to be levied on individuals with income between Rs 50 lakhs to Rs 1 crore.

Retail investors: The Finance Minister has proposed to phase out tax benefits under Rajiv Gandhi Equity Savings Scheme (RGESS), which was introduced with much fanfare by the previous UPA regime.

Under the scheme, deduction for three consecutive assessment years is allowed up to Rs 25,000 to a resident individual for investment made in listed equity shares or listed units of an equity oriented fund subject to fulfillment of certain conditions.

Affordable housing: Holding period to be reduced for computation of long term capital gain from three years to two years

Cash transaction limit: Cash transaction of above Rs 2 lakh not to be permitted.

ITR filing: The government has notified a simpler, one-page form for filing income tax returns while making it mandatory to quote Aadhaar number and disclose bank deposits of more than Rs 2 lakh post demonetisation.

The Income Tax Return Form-1 (Sahaj) will replace the 7-page form, removing a plethora of columns on deductions from income claimed.

Railway Vikalp scheme

From April 1, waitlisted passengers can avail the opportunity of travelling in premier trains like Rajdhani or Shatabdi even if they have booked tickets in other mail or express trains for the same destination.

As per the scheme, passengers opting for 'Vikalp' scheme while booking tickets will get SMS alert on his/her mobile phone about confirmed accommodation in the next train running on the route.

Charges for non maintenance of minimum balance in savings bank account

SBI has decided to levy penalty on non-maintenance of minimum balance, which the bank plans to hike manifold from April 1. However, the government has asked SBI to reconsider its decision to levy penalty on non-maintenance of minimum balance.

The country's largest lender has announced imposing penalty ranging from Rs 20-100 on non-maintenance of Minimum Average Balance (MAB) in savings bank accounts. The penalty is as high as Rs 500 in case of current accounts. The penalty for breach of MAB is being reintroduced after a gap of five years.

SBI has also imposed restrictions on withdrawals of cash from its branches as well as ATMs. These will attract charges after certain specified limits.

Some private banks, like HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank, have started charging a minimum amount of Rs 150 per transaction for cash deposits and withdrawals beyond four free transactions in a month.

Ban on sale and registration of non-BS IV vehicles

The automobile industry is fully geared up to commence production of vehicles compliant with BS-IV emission norms from April 1 across the country.

Implementation of BS-IV norms pan-India had been delayed due to non-availability of BS-IV fuel across the country, forcing some categories of four-wheeled vehicles to remain at the BS-III stage till April 1 2017.

The Indian auto industry will also be the first in the world to leapfrog from BS-IV to BS-VI emission norms by 2020.

Car, motorcycle and health insurance to cost more

Car, motorcycle and health insurance will cost more from April 1 with regulator Irdai giving go-ahead to insurers for revision in commission for agents. The change in premium after modification will be limited to +/- 5 percent of the existing rates.

No stamping, tagging of hand baggage at 7 major airports

Stamping and tagging of the hand baggage of fliers at seven major airports, including Delhi and Mumbai, will be done away with from April 1.

The other airports which will see the new system of baggage security coming in include the ones in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Cochin and Ahmedabad. However, this would not be applicable to the passengers flying out of the country.

Delhi Metro smart cards to be non-refundable

The Delhi Metro's smart cards will be non-refundable from April 1. The smart cards sold after April 1 and the cards already in circulation will become non-refundable.

The DMRC added that Delhi Metro commuters will get back only the security deposit, after relevant deductions, if they return the smart cards after April 1.