Individuals who need to make any tax-savings investments for FY 2023-24 may be looking forward to making use of March 30 and March 31, as these are the last two dates of the financial year. If any individual misses to do so there will be no opportunity to invest in the current financial year.
If you invest in government schemes like the public provident fund (PPF), Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana (SSY), and others on March 30 and 31, will it be counted as investments in FY 2023-24? ET Wealth Online explains
Experts say what would matter the most in this case is when the respective banks process the transaction, and on which date. If you remit money to the bank on March 30 or March 31 and it gets processed the same day, then the investment date will be on these dates, and it will be counted in the financial year 2023-24.
According to Ankit Jain, partner, Ved Jain & Associates, a CA firm, “Individuals can invest in various government schemes like PPF, SSY, and others on March 30 and March 31, 2024, and claim tax benefits for FY 2023-24. However, this is only possible if the bank processes the transactions on these dates both for offline and online payments. For example: Interbank cheques mostly are processed by the next working so if an individual deposits another bank’s cheque on March 31, 2024, it would only be processed on or after April 2, 2024. If an individual is using online channels of a bank to invest in government schemes, then it is processed immediately, and hence individuals can get tax benefits as of the date of investment.”
“For online PPF, SSY, and other government scheme investment the investment date will be the same as the date of payment if the transactions are successful,” says Neeraj Agarwala, partner, Nangia Anderssen India. “However, if the transaction is successful on the customer’s end but failed in transit i.e. the bank did not receive the money, but money was debited from your account, then the investment date will be the date on which the bank received the money,” he adds.
All the digital banking payment channels like IMPS, NEFT, and RTGS will remain operational during the year-end.
How can you make tax savings investment in government schemes on March 30 & 31st for FY 2023-24 at banks?
As per a notification by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), all cheques related to government accounts will be cleared and NEFT, RTGS, UPI transactions will all function as usual. “All Government transactions done by agency banks for the Financial Year 2023-24 must be accounted for within the same financial year. All Agency banks should keep their designated branches open for over-the-counter transactions related to government transactions up to the normal working hours on March 30 and March 31, 2024. Transactions through National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) and Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) System will continue up to 2400 hours as hitherto on March 31, 2024,” said the RBI in a notification dated March 21, 2024.
Are all bank branches open on March 30 and March 31, 2024?
“The Government of India has requested to keep all branches of the banks dealing with Government receipts and payments open for transactions on March 31, 2024 (Sunday) to account for all the Government transactions relating to receipts and payments in the FY 2023-24 itself. Accordingly, Agency Banks are advised to keep all their branches dealing with government business open on March 31, 2024 (Sunday),” said the Reserve Bank of India in a notification dated March 20, 2024.
According to Bandhan Bank, all branches of the bank are open on March 31, 2024. An individual can visit its branches to deposit income tax amount, submit challan or to make any payments to the government on Sunday. Further, the bank clarified that an individual can visit it’s branches to open a tax-saving fixed deposit, deposit money in a PPF account or do any other work related to their bank account.
