Begin Tax Planning Now ; the Sooner You Start Planning for Taxes, the Better It Will Be for You. Here's a Quick Guide to Get You Started.

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It's now November and, chances are that you have already been handed your tax liability sheet for 2008-09. If you are a salaried professional, your accounts department has handed you one and if you are self-employed or in business, your chartered accountant must have done so. Have you booked losses in the stock market and are you wondering whether these can be set off against income or gains that may have accrued to you during the year? Surely, these are important questions that you need to consider along with the various tax planning Schemes. To help you get going with the exercise now, instead of running helter-skelter towards the fag-end of the financial year, here's a quick guide on various tax-saving options available.

To begin with, taxation laws allow for the setting off of short- term capital losses on investments in equities and equity-linked mutual funds (MFs) against similar shortterm capital gains. Short- term capital gains or losses accrue when equities or equity-linked MFs are sold under a year of buying them, but not when you sell your shares under an open offer or a buyback Scheme.

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Begin Tax Planning Now ; the Sooner You Start Planning for Taxes, the Better It Will Be for You. Here's a Quick Guide to Get You Started.

Short-term capital losses can also be set off against any gains from the sale of property,says G. Sekar, a Chennai-based chartered accountant and a certified tax planner. That's good news for all those who may have sold property for a hefty profit during th...

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