Get Health Cover For Senior Parents

Queries

Miraj Shah, Bhavnagar

I am 22 and studying. My father retired from service two years back. He bought one endowment policy long back which is giving him returns now but there is no other life insurance. Can he buy a term insurance now at 62?

The purpose of term insurance is to replace future income if a wage earner dies. This is most relevant if the family depends upon the wage earner for its sustenance. In your case, your father has retired which means that he will now utilise his savings and does not have a future income. In this context, term insurance may not be the best option for him to buy. Insurers will hesitate to issue him a large term cover. They may give term plans with a low sum assured, but in my view, that will not be very meaningful. You may want to consider buying health insurance for your parents if they do not have that already because a medical issue can eat into your parents’ savings significantly.

Kapil Mehta, Co-founder, SecureNow

Mukund Kumar, Jalpaiguri

I am in college and I invest in the stock market. I am still learning and trade in small amounts. I cannot say whether I will make profit or loss at the end of the year. I have no other source of income. Will I need to file income tax return (ITR) if I continue doing my stock market trading activities?

ITR filing is mandatory if the gross total income of an individual taxpayer exceeds the basic exemption limit. Gross total income includes income received from various sources such as salary, house property, capital gains, etc. From April 1, 2023, the basic exemption limit under the new tax regime is `3 lakh.

As a rule of thumb, if your gain from sale or purchase of shares is less than `3 lakh, there is no requirement to file an ITR for the year.

However, even if your gross total income does not exceed the basic exemption limit as stated above, you may have to file ITR if you fall under certain categories of persons. Important categories in your case are if you have incurred expenditure of over `2 lakh on yourself or any other person for travelling to a foreign country; in case you have spent an amount of over `1 lakh towards the consumption of electricity. You may need to look into these.

Further, if you incur loss this year, you will be able to carry forward the losses and take the benefit in the subsequent year/s only if you file the loss in your ITR this year.

Vivek Jalan, Partner, Tax Connect Advisory

Neerja Sethupathi, Ahmedabad

I got married this year and shifted with my husband in Ahmedabad. Earlier, I showed my parents as my dependents in the health insurance offered by the company. I am the only child of my parents and want to keep them covered as dependents. Please advise if there will be any change in this case because of the change in my marital status.

Your marital status does not affect your parents’ status as your dependents. This is your choice to make. Corporate insurance policies do offer considerable flexibility regarding whomsoever you want to cover. However, it is the typical norm to cover spouses.

In your case, dependent parents are also covered and some insurers will give you the flexibility of selecting your parents or in-laws for insurance cover as you prefer. You can make changes to the people covered in your insurance policy when it is due for renewal or at the time of any major life events such as marriage, childbirth, etc.

Kapil Mehta, Co-founder, SecureNow