Mention equity investments and chances are most taxpayers will look the other way. No wonder when it comes to income tax, the focus is more towards savings than planning taxes efficiently, which leads to suboptimal usage of the available tax deductions. One of the biggest challenges that every taxpayer faces is to preserve the value of his money; basically ensure that it does not lose its worth, which is possible only if it beats inflation. The only known asset class that beats inflation in the long run is equity and it is for this reason that every taxpayer should make the most of the available tax deduction that can be deployed in suitable equity instruments.