Tax upon salaries and wages

Tax upon salaries and wages

Income Tax on Salary
Salary includes the pay, allowances, bonus or commission payable monthly or otherwise or any monetary payment, in whatever name called from one or more employers, as the case may be, but does not include the following, namely:

• dearness allowance or dearness pay unless it enters into the computation of superannuation or
• retirement benefits of the employee concerned;
• employer's contribution to the provident fund account of the employee;
• allowances which are exempted from payment of tax;
• the value of perquisites specified in sub-section (2) of section 17 of the Income-tax Act;
  

Salary also includes the following:

• Wages;
• Any annuity or pension;
• Any gratuity;
• Any fees, commissions, perquisites or profits in lieu of or in addition to any salary or wages;
• Any advance of salary;
• Any payment received by an employee in respect of any period of leave not availed of by him;
• The annual accredition to the balance at the credit of an employee participating in a recognized provident fund, to the extent to which it is chargeable to tax under Rule 6 of Part A of the Fourth Schedule; and
• The aggregate of all sums that are comprised in the transferred balance as referred to in sub-rule (2) of rule 11 of part A of the Fourth Schedule of an employee participating in a recognized provident fund, to the extent to which it is chargeable to tax under sub-rule (4) thereof.
  

Salary also includes:
Perquisites: include all benefits provided by an employer to the employee like company leased accommodation, car, free education, etc. This represents provision of a facility rather than an allowance for expense. These components are offered to tax based on the value prescribed as per the perquisite valuation rules.

Profit in lieu of salary: includes non-recurring, one-off payments received by the employee e.g. joining bonus, compensation for termination of employment or modification in the terms of employment etc.