Published in Mint on 5 January, 2016, Written by Abhishek Bondia
I was told that I can reduce my tax outgo if I were to do a preventive health check up. Is this correct?
—T.P. Das
The income tax rules allow for deduction under section 80D of Income-tax Act, 1961 for preventive health check-up. The aggregate amount you can claim as deduction in a year isRs.5,000. The health check-up could be done for either the individual or her family, including parents, spouse and children. This amount is deducted from one’s gross total income of the year. This reduces your taxable income and liability.
My brother has suffered a paralysis recently. Can we enhance his sum assured?
—Suyash Rai
You will find it difficult to increase the sum assured because insurers hesitate to increase cover if one of the body’s core systems is damaged. Make sure that you continue to renew the current insurance without any break. Your brother could be covered in a group policy if he works in a company.
My housing society has an insurance policy. Do I still need to get home insurance?
—K. Ganpathi
Your housing society will insure the building structure for perils such as fire, earthquake, storm and malicious damage. However, they will not insure any leasehold improvements that you have done or the contents within the house.
Buy a home contents insurance policy that will cover the perils mentioned above and also theft. The sum insured can be restricted to the cost of fixtures, leasehold improvements and household contents Do ensure that the society has bought a comprehensive property insurance covering not just fire but also earthquake, flooding and malicious damage.
My daughter is getting married in February and it will be held outdoors. Someone told me that I should take something called event insurance. What is it? Do you think I should opt for something like this?
—G. Rao
I must forewarn you that insurance practitioners have a tendency to see risk even in the happiest of occasions. We are the cloud on a silver lining. However, our objective is not to get you paralysed but to mitigate risk through insurance.
An outdoor wedding is fraught with risks. There could be fire, earthquake, flooding, inundation, storm, tempest, riots, strikes and malicious damage. Rains may wash away the event or someone may call for a strike. The wedding pandal may break down. A worker may run away with cash and jewellery. A guest may get hurt on the premises. Insurers offer event insurance that addresses all these perils in one comprehensive policy. Since this insurance is not frequently purchased you may find it difficult to procure. It could be administratively easier to cover the main risks through a standard fire and public liability insurance.
Media
