Category Archives: Investments

Payment of VAT Tax for purchase of a property

Published December 30, 2013 6:21 pm

I have to make VAT Tax payment for a purchase of a (commercial) property.

The property was a resale property. When I had purchased a new flat earlier, VAT payment logistics were handled by the builder himself. Hence, I did not go through the process and associated hassles. The vendor reselling the property did not offer assistance in the VAT tax payment  for the transaction. That meant I have to handle it.

I went through the ordeal of 4 hours to finish the task. The notes below may help you go through the process smoothly:

  1. VAT payment needs to be done by paying through a challan for the commercial tax office for your <circle>. I came to know that it was madhapur in my case.
  2. Get a blank copy of the challan rubber stamped for the office.
  3. Fill the Challan.
  4. Locate the axis bank branch where you can pay the challan.
  5. Know the exact amount that needs to be paid. In my case, it was 1.25% of the sale value.
  6. Make the payment.

Getting the challan and filling it

  1. I found an agent outside the axis bank branch who provided me the challan form for Rs. 100/- and filled it also for me. (but he made mistake in filling the form that I came to know later).
  2. Ask your seller to provide you a VAT challan and take care of paying it. If he agrees, you are relieved of this. If he does not agree,  ask him to get you a challan and all the details that needs to be filled in the VAT challan.
  3. In my case – two details were key to be filled in the form
  4. Dealer name and address – this should contain the seller company name who is selling the item. For example: Abc Ltd. madhapur, Hyderabad – 31.
  5. Dealer’s registration number – I have fill the TIN number of the seller.
  6. For which the amount is deposited – VAT Tax

Finding the bank branch to make the payment

  1. For the madhapur (Hyderabad) circle, I have to make the payment in the axis bank branch. details below.
  2. It is good to locate the branch whereabouts clearly before going there. I wasted 1 hr getting to the branch since I did not know exact location.
  3. If any one of you find a way to make such payment online, do comment for the help of others. I did not have time to look for that.
  4. I have made cash payment. DD, and cheque payment is also possible. but I was told that it will take additional time. Hence, I went for cash transaction.

Phone – (040) 24730445 Address: Block No 5, 1st Floor, Gruhakalpa Building, Commercial Tax Office, Nampally, Hyderabad – 500001

Directions: When going from the Nampally towards Karachi bakery (muzamjahi market), the branch is located inside a building on left side. It is the second building prior to the deep green color high rise (10+ floor) building. If you crossed green building, that means you have gone ahead.

After entering the main gate of the building, axis bank atm+branch is visible on taking left. if you get confused, ask any agent/person standing outside these buildings for the axis bank branch.

Branch Timing: Branch operates to take cash payment between 10am to 1:45pm.

Transfer your PPF account from post office to a public bank

Published November 15, 2013 2:54 pm

postofficeI need to manage multiple PPF accounts of the family. There were all put in a local post office. After I moved to different part of the city, it was hassle to travel to the post office to manage the account. The agent who helped us with this work also confirmed that post office no longer gives any incentive to him. Hence, it is not worth for him also. I decided to explore transfer of the PPF account to a public or private bank.

sbi_logo_mainICICI bank was advertising for some time that people can open PPF account with them. but post office people refused to transfer to a private bank. They mentioned that they do not have any directive to do the transfer to a private bank. I have an option to transfer to another post office or a public bank like SBI. I found out that the SBI bank near my home provided the PPF account facility. Note: not all branches of the SBI provide PPF account facility. It is good to locate a public bank branch near your home. Further – public banks also do not operate hassle free. if you have an existing relation like FDs etc. with the branch that will help. In my case, I had existing relation with the SBI near my home.

My personal agent was of great help and guidance to finish the transfer. First transfer took order of months and multiple follow ups. He provided us with the transfer form which needs to be filled in multiple of 3. Following needs to be submitted to the post master of the office.

  1. transfer forms – 3 copies – afair.
  2. SBI branch details on a place paper including – branch code, location, and address. branch code needs to be obtained from the branch or their website.
  3. PPF passbook
  4. self attested Xerox of the photo identity like passport, voter id or pan card – name need to match the name on your PPF pass book.

I had kept the Xerox copy of the passbook and the transfer form for my reference. once this is submitted, post master gives you the counter foil of the transfer form and process is kick started. You will be informed that the cheque along with passbook and other details will be sent by post to your bank address. There is no transparency about the status or progress in the process after this. In our case, our agent  came to rescue to get the insider information and move the file ahead. Process – as far as I understood – is this

  1. Post master updates your passbook including interest. Sends to the higher up post officer for the approval and release cheque.
  2. The approving post officer verifies the details, approves, makes the cheque and send everything by post to the bank.

Our agent has helped with following:

  1. Followed up and confirmed when the file was sent to the approving officer.
  2. Approving officer was on leave. I got to know through him when there was delay in the process.
  3. He followed up again to ensure that the approval was through and documents were posted to the bank.

I had mentioned to the bank officer earlier regarding this. I checked a week after and found that the documents were received by them. It took 3 days to get the cheque credit and another 1-2 days to finish the account opening formality – like filling the form with 2- passport size photos and identity proof. You can apply and get the online access for the PPF account in SBI as well. That took additional week. bank process will take 3-4 visits in total.

I transferred only one account to test the process. Later, I initiated transfer of 2 more accounts and this got done in shorter time without less of the agent follow up.

Observations

  1. It is good to initiate the transfer after march when the FY interest is credited. There was confusion across who needs to the pay the interest in my case when the transfer when done mid year. I could resolve that matter yet. I was told by agent that for PPF interest is credited once a year and bank will give me for the whole year. I stopped following up on this. I need to check now whether I got the credit of interest for the whole year or not.
  2. If you have a good relation with your agent for your post office PPF account, it is good to seek his help and go through him. otherwise, process may work but like I mentioned there is no official way to know status and progress.
  3. Do not have high expectation. Have patience. Expect 1-2 month for the whole process. Follow up weekly.
  4. Choose a bank near you; otherwise hassles do not go down.
  5. Bank passbook is computer managed. It exudes more confidence than hand written post office passbook;) It probably gives you more peace of mind as well unless you like doing math of numbers like computing interest – and manually tracking – manual entries in passbook – for fun.
  6. Deposit into your PPF account in SBI is a two step process; you fill a challan along with your deposit cheque; you visit after 4-5 days to claim credit of the cheque, and get your passbook updated.

Redeem Kishan Vikas Patra in Post Office

Published October 30, 2013 3:39 pm

I had forgotten about the Kishan Vikas Patra purchased for my wife in year 2004. They matured in Feb 2013. I need to encash / get credit / redeem them. Since the post office is not near to home, I need to plan a visit to post office on a working day. I need to make two visits to get the credit of funds.

Few observations:

  1. If the certificates are not in your name, they need to be signed by the owning person before you go to the post office.
  2. If the owning person is not visiting along with you, you need to carry a letter of authorization signed by her.
  3. Identity proof like voter id/ pan card of the owning person. Name should match exactly as on the certificate.
  4. You can get a cheque in owning person name. I got the funds deposited into the PPF account with the same post office. Hence, I did not take the cheque for maturity amount.
  5. You need to visit the post office by 1:30 pm. I had visited around 12 pm.