My experience in getting Encumbrance Certificate (Form 15) In Bangalore

In our society, we were looking to do a transfer of Khata to our names for the new flats. One of documents required was the till date Encumberance Certificate form 15 that carries the property owner's names. The agent from BBMP was asking Rs.500 to render his 'services'. I thought of giving it a shot myself first. Here goes my journey:

I would like to mention that my Kannada is not very good. I can read small words at 10 words per min (I don't understand the meanings of all of them though) and can only manage to have very very basic conversations full of grammatical mistakes.

Reached Banaswadi Sub-Registrar office at about 10.10 AM. The office did not even have a board outside the building to indicate that there is a sub-registrar working in there! After asking around, I came to know that it was on the 1st floor of a non-descript building. I realized I was the the right place by the familiar aura of govt offices. Files stacked here and there, desks and iron chairs scattered throughout. The office was surprisingly clean! There were hardly any employees and the place was being swept. There were a bunch of uncles waiting for the counter for franking to open. 

I started reading whatever I could written on the walls. I found a cabin where a stack of EC's were kept and I knew this was the place. A lanky gentleman appeared out of nowhere when I was trying to read what was written on the walls. I tried to converse with him in my broken Kannada. He was surprised a little in the beginning but then gave me a form (no 22) to fill in the details of the property.

The form was in English and I filled in fields I could  easily identify, like requester, buyer, address etc. I gave him the half filled in form and he gave me an amused look as if he is used to my type of people. Then he took my pen and my copy of the sale deed and filled in the property description, EC period (dates between which you need the EC; for my case it was from the date of registration till date) and the index file number mentioned on the top of each page of the sale deed. I was pleasantly surprised that he did this for me. Probably because there was nobody else in the office around the EC counter. I thanked him profusely.

Then he asked for Rs.250/- for it to be ready in the evening. His help being too good to be true, I knew this was his cut as someone had mentioned the official fees as Rs.45/-. I told him that people in my building had got it for free! He gave me a grin and told me to goto the cash counter and 'sir' will take it from there.

The cash counter was the same as the franking counter and there were about 8 people in the queue before me. The clerk behind the counter was a burly middle aged man with thick rimmed glasses. He had dyed his hair unnaturally Black! Most of the uncles seemed pros at what they wanted and would not entertain any excuses for delays or pay bribes. I handed him the filled form 22 and my sale deed copy when my turn came. He returned it back to me with a indignant look... where was the survey number? An uncle standing behind me was quick to jump in and told me to open the deed to the place where the property description was listed. I did not need to refer as I already knew the survey number and appended it in the form and handed it back.

He wrote down my name and a reference number in his register and handed me back a chit with the date of delivery and the reference number for my transaction. I paid Rs.45 and was feeling a little happy to have avoided the extra bribe!

I was supposed to collect the EC 2 days later. I went there on the said date and saw it was closed. I was disappointed and went back. I had missed reading that day's paper and my dad told me there was a strike in the govt offices! I rued my luck and felt helpless.

I went back the next day in the evening  and the scene was completely different. The place was teeming with people and the EC cabin was particularly crowded. I asked the clerk near the EC table how do I track if my job was done and he plainly pointed me out to the stack of the EC certificates! I had to rummage through the piles of certificates on a tray on the table. There were others like me. The only saving grace was that the papers were arranged in order with the newest on top. I quickly realized that the number mentioned on my chit was not in the pile. I complained to the clerk and he plainly said that means its not ready yet and asked me to come the day after. I was not at all surprised. At this point of time I was mentally prepared to wait it out.

I came back again the next day and it being Saturday, I was prepared to run around a little bit. I approached the clerk again and this time he recognized me and sent me over to the 'sir' in the cash counter to check if my transaction was completed. After braving out the queue for the cash counter, the 'sir' put me through to his colleague in the next counter. Fortunately this counter was empty as he was not handling any cash. He looked at a notebook and said that my job in 'in-progress' and to check with another clerk who manages the computer print-outs.

I asked more people and located a small computer on a table in a corner shielded by the crowd. He was a young man with earphones plugged in and blissfully unaware of his surroundings, a complete 'dude'. He was probably the only person at peace in the whole office! He was showing some wedding pictures to another man when I tried to talk to him. When I finally managed to get his attention, he keyed in the acknowledgement number on my chit and directed me to another woman who collates all the forms for signature. 

This woman was in another room and was turned away from the door. I initially could not make it out but it turned out that she is the only woman employee in that office! She seemed to be the most helpful of all. She had the printout with her and I was so relieved to see that my job will be done today. She handed me the papers and told me get it signed by the same old 'sir'.

I stood in the queue again and the 'sir' just put his initials. I thought I was done and left the office. No sooner had I left the building than an old uncle saw the form 22 stapled to my stack. He quickly pointed out that I had to get it stamped and they would file my application form. I was not supposed to take it away. 

I dreaded going back, but stepped in with a heavy heart. I went back to the helpful lady who told me to go back to the computer operator for stamping. I was feeling that this is such a practical example of recursion and geekily joked to myself that eventually I have to go back to myself! However the 'dude' told me to get it signed by his boss before he stamps it. His boss was at the first desk of the room and mostly not surrounded by people. He was basically answering questions from people. He signed my certificate and then i went back to the 'dude'.

I was finally relieved when he affixed the sub-registrar stamp and tore away the stapled application form. I was now the proud owner of my flat's EC! I never realized how much joy such little things can give us. I wrote this blog today to spread the joy forward! 

 

Namma Ooru Bengaluru scores a Goal

Never before had I thought that I would be watching a Football match in a stadium; especially after leaving Kolkata. But fate had its own plans! 

Today I went to witness the birth of a new sports frenzy in the country: The BFC club in I-League. The KSFA stadium was painted fresh and looked majestic. The AstroTurf on the ground was mind blowing and I was salivating at the prospect of diving on it. The Football fan in me just had to see it. I picked up a couple of friends and my dad (yeah! though he is not a big Football fan) just for the experience. It was a sunny day, we were lined up outside the stadium an hour in advance. The crowd was swelling by the minute. I felt butterflies in my stomach as i got the tickets in my hand. It was a match between BFC and Rangdajied Utd from Shillong.

As soon as we entered the stadium, the lush green field endeared me instantly. The crowd around me was typically college going, but I spotted a generous mix of family fans. Young girls with painted faces and school kids in BFC jerseys! I even spotted a couple of Saree clad women who had come with their husbands and children for a family picnic! It was so heartening to see people turn up to cheer their city. In the row before me were seated a Bengali father-son duo and I have never seen a more knowledgeable Indian football fan than that 8 year old boy. Some people beside me were discussing how Sunil Chettri was transferred into BFC for this season, but they got the club wrong. The kid turned back and lectured them for 5 mins on the origins of the Indian captain, the goalkeeper and the 3 foreign players in the team.

The match started with both the teams being led by school children and no sooner had the kickoff happened than the party started. I heard innovative slogans like "Namma Ooru... Bengaluru, Who are we... BFC!" and the anthem "Oh when the Blues go marching in". There were cheers for every attacking move and boos for every decision that was given against the team by the referee. There were player specific slogans and for Jonhson and Osano; there were coaching directions given to defender Vishal in Kannada. Everyone were shouting out their lungs! The atmosphere was electrifying.

The energy was epidemic, we all joined the slogan shouting. Later I heard the announcement that the crowd was 7000 strong. The first goal was scored by the English John Johnson and  the crowd started chanting the slogan "Johnny Johnson.. he scores when he wants". Australian Sean Rooney scored another one in the second half from a corner kick and the third from captain Sunil Chettri; the largest applause was reserved for him. Every goal scored, every replacement announcement made, every free kick awarded, made the crowd go beserk. There was dancing, whistling and clapping. The giant screen showed replays when goals were scored and the crowd cheered the goal scorer all the more.

Food consisting of samosa and burgers was humble fare and toilets were makeshift but manageable. All in all, a wonderful experience. I am glad to see an IPL style fan base developing for Football city teams. I am hoping that the BFC continues to innovate into the next season with more half time entertainment and wins more loyal fans. 

P.S: I am still trying to buy the team jersey but it is always sold out!

DIY - File your tax returns online (AY 2013-14)

“The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax.” — Albert Einstein

It's that time of the year when the tension of filing one's IT returns can get to the sanest of us. In this blog post, I have attempted to bust the myth that tax filing is only for CAs!

The IT department has been one of the top adopters of technology in the otherwise decrepit government institutions. They have endeavoured to make filing as painless as possible. Till last year, one had to download an excel with macros and do a jugglery with generating an XML extract and uploading the same. 
Introducing Quick E-Filing! This is the new method of filing income tax return without hassles. The caveat is that this is only available for ITR-1 people (income from salary and interest; sorry stock market punters!). Other category of users (with more varied sources of income) have to file using other ITR forms using the old excel based method).

To file income tax return through this method, log-in to your account (create one of you don't have; it's free!) with the income tax department https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/e-Filing/UserLogin/LoginHome.html?nextPage=efile

The login screen looks like this. If you select option "From PAN Database", your personal details like name, address will get pre-populated from your PAN registration details. If you have filed online returns previously, select accordingly (also populates your previous salary etc.). If you are a newbie, use the third option.

If you have a digital signature, use the first option else if you want to sign manually, select the second. 

• Once you submit, the instructions page will open up; you can read them once to understand the working of the site. The instructions provide guidelines on the significance of colour and the format of the dates.
• Please do not press the BACK button to goto any previous page. Use the ARROW buttons provided on the bottom of each tab to proceed or go back. 
• Be careful not to press ENTER button as it will submit the form.

• The first tab captures your personal information. Most of the fields are compulsory. After filling in personal details, proceed to fill in the tax return category identification related fields. For a normal salaried individual like most of you, the status is INDIVIDUAL.
• The Income tax ward/circle is the one where your PAN is registered. You can know it by entering your details at https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/e-Filing/Services/KnowYourPanLink.html
• Address field is meant to capture your address. It is pre-populated if you had used the option of using previous year's data during login.
• Filing status employer category is 'Others' for private individuals like most of us.
• Tax Status for salaried people is mostly Tax payable (hold on before you beat me up! We have to account for your interest income on you savings account or your FDs). We have to make this as 'Nil Tax Balance'. Select 'Tax Payable' for the time being.
• Residential status is RESident if you normally stay in India. 
• Return filed under section is typically 11-Before due date if you are going to do this before Income Tax cut-off time of July 31. After due date typically entails payment of late penalty/interest too!
• Original/Revised is typically Original if you have not made mistakes in filing earlier.
• Portuguese civil code section is NO unless you live in Puducherry!
• We will not discuss revised returns assuming all of you are doing it correctly this first time itself.

Let us now go to the next tab of Income Details. Keep your Form-16 handy for reference.

• Income form Salary/Pension is the income chargeable under he head 'salaries' in your Form-16 (last page). You can also confirm the same by viewing your tax credit statements as For 26AS (TRACES website). Most companies also provide an extract of the same with the Form16. Keep in mind that this is the income BEFORE any exemptions. If you have other income form house/property, enter accordingly. Income from other sources are typically interest income from your savings account and interest on Fixed Deposits (If interest on FD is more than Rs. 10,000 then the bank itself deducts a TDS and gives you a certificate).
• Deduction section is where all your investments eligible for deductions will fall under. If you had already declared these in your company, your form 16 would already have them listed out. For example, Employee PF, ULIPs, LIC premium etc would fall under section 80C with a maximum exemption limit of Rs. 1 lac.Similarly other instruments would qualify under Section 80CCC/D etc. There are several sections for deductions and if you have any instrument that qualifies under these sections, then I assume you know the correct section to identify your exemption. Fill in the space for section 80G if you had made donations eligible for tax exemption (you will have to provide the proof in the 80G Tab). Fill in the exemption amount from your Form-16 (or accordingly if you had not declared earlier but the payment has been in the financial year, but you will have to send them physical proof of the same at the time of filing the return).
• The next section on Tax computation is auto-populated except if you have any penalty interest to pay.

Let us now go to the TDS tab. Again your Form-16 is needed.

• The first schedule is for your salary income. From our Form-16, get the TAN number (typically mentioned on the last page of the Form-16) of your employer and  enter it. The income under head 'Salaries' goes next (the same amount as you had entered in income details tab). The tax deducted at source goes in next. This is also mentioned on your Form-16 under details of tax paid (typically the last page).
• The next schedule is for income other than salary. In typical IT people, it is generally when your bank has done a TDS for interest on your FD and you have the certificate to fill in the details. If not, it is left blank.
• The next schedule is for the Self assessment Tax. This is where you will pay the extra tax for your interest income or FD interest (if the bank has already not done a TDS). Look at your bank statement and get your total interest income for the financial year. You would have added this income to your 'income from other sources' in the income details tab. We will talk about how much and how to pay this additional tax after the next section.

Now we will go to the final (for most people) section where the numbers add up.

The schedule for Taxes paid adds up all the TDS and self assessment taxes you have paid (not many people pay advance tax or are not eligible). Based on your total income (salary+others) and the tax slabs, this has computed your total tax liability. The total tax paid by you is deducted and the balance is what you have to pay (or be refunded of you have already paid more tax). We have to aim to get this balance tax payable to 0. 

Let us come back to the payment of additional taxes. The difference that showed up as Balance Tax payable is what you will need to pay as Self Assessment Tax. This can be paid online using the E-Pay tax link located on the left pane (quick links) of the e-filing website where you are currently on. Choose Non TDS/TCS ITNS 280 for payment of Income tax. Select  0021 Income Tax Other. Fill in your details, choose 300 Self Assessment tax as Type of Payment and perform this transaction using your Bank's Netbanking. 

You will get a BSR Number, Date and Challan Number from your bank. Go back to the TDS tab and enter all these details in the Schedule for Advance/Self Assessment Tax. Now go back to your taxes paid and Verification Tab. Voila! You have fulfilled your tax payment obligations. The balance tax payable is 0 now. Enter the your bank details and unless you are using the services of a TRP (in which case you would not be reading this!), leave the remaining schedules blank.

Go back to your 'Personal Information' tab and get the pride of setting the tax Status as 'Nil Tax'.

Now click on Submit at the bottom and there you go! Your IT returns have been filed. Print the ITR copy and post it to the CPC cell as instructed.

© Bhawik Raja

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Shades of Red

Viruses seem to love me in September! Last year it was the pigs and this year, it is the pinks! With a three day isolation, I am a picture of boredom and waste of human life. Imagine missing 2 very important dates with your profs and mustering the courage to reschedule them!

Alas the dreams have gone for a complete toss. In Caliban's words "...The clouds methought would open, and show riches; Ready to drop upon me, that when I waked; I cried to dream again." I want to get into the same state of dreams but the ghosts of a diurnal world prevent me from that.

An induced state of hypnosis sets upon me where the medical beasts squat any dream-bug that my unconscious imagoes. Just like the old James Bond movie intros, I see the world painted in shades of bloody Red. Later do I realize that the filter is in my cornea! Today I see an unshaved, untamed wolf in the mirror, the eyes red, black and white, each pigment spilling into the other. The saving grace is that the monster still beats a human soul and feels love and kindness. 

Fed on a diet of Oranges, Bananas and other botanical miseries, the red moons seem to wane, the waters get flushed and the wolf bites the silver bullet. The engine begins puffing coming Monday and the Eatalians' party will be as per schedule on Friday! Do we hear the wolves howling eh!

A Clouded mind

It was all fine and I was of the belief that it will be as it was. But change is the way of life and change it did! The rhythm has a new tune to it; It makes me nervous. I feel cornered. Not being used to talk back in a desirable way to a special set of people, I don't know what to say. I have always been a person of few words and bad at arguments.

The deafening silence races my heartbeat. The mood dejects me. The clashes makes me doubtful of my abilities. Confusion sets in with a sense of hope and despair. Am I discovering a new me? Am I pushing too hard? Am I becoming selfish to see my own convenience?

Reason and romance don't gel well. But what about reason built on top of romance? Will the reason slip because of the improper gelling? And will that even get noticed?

Sleeping with a heavy heart is not what one desires. But at times, its the best the world can offer. Amidst the cacophony of Social Networking alerts and Technology aids, one cannot be alone for a moment. I look at my Facebook page and try to get lost in that ocean of virtual humanity while the heart nurtures itself to brace another tough day!