Reporting F&O trading in your income tax return

(F&O: Future and Options)

As per Indian tax laws, incomes are reported under five heads—salary, house property, capital gains, business and profession and other sources (any residual income that cannot be classified in other heads).

Many people get confused when they have more than one type of dealing in the stock market. Some do intra-day stock transactions along with F&O trades. Some may hold stocks as long-term investments and also invest in mutual funds. In such a situation, you should calculate your business income from all of these separately.

Income from F&O deals is almost always treated as business income. That may come as a surprise if you are salaried and have never run a business. Taxpayers who have business income have to file ITR-4

Businesses may be speculative or non-speculative, and the tax treatment is different. The income tax Act says that F&O trade is considered as a non-speculative business. Intra-day stock trades are treated as a speculative business. Since F&O trades are considered a business, tax rules of capital gains rules do not apply

Reporting F&O trade as a business means:

*You can claim expenses from your business income

*As a result you may earn a profit or incur a loss

*Losses must be reported and losses have tax benefits

*Your total income (from all five heads) continues to be taxed at slab rates.

The first hurdle is to prepare your business’s profit and loss details. To calculate gross income from F&O trades, take your transaction statement for the whole year. Look at your receipts; these may be a positive or a negative value. Sum these up for the whole year. Expenses can be deducted from your gross income. Some expenses that you can deduct include rent or maintenance expenses of premises used for the business; mobile or telephone; internet charges; demat account charges; broker commission; depreciation on laptop used for trading; and any other expense directly related to your work.

Business income is calculated for the financial year for which you are filing your return. You will also have to prepare a balance sheet which is reported in ITR-4. It is basically a statement of your assets and liabilities.

Some may hold stocks as long-term investments and also invest in mutual funds. In such a situation, you should calculate your business income from all of these separately. F&O trade income and intra-day stock trading will have separate expenses. Don’t worry if you have consolidated expenses; for example, you use the same premises to trade in both, or use a single phone. Simply bifurcate these expenses on a reasonable basis. You can allocate them using a ratio based on time spent.

 Losses from F&O can be set off from income from other heads (except salary income). Say, your loss from F&O business is Rs.1 lakh, salary income is Rs.5 lakh, income from rent is Rs.2 lakh, and interest income is Rs.50,000. Your total taxable income shall be Rs.6.5 lakh.

If you have F&O loss, you must get your accounts audited. Audit is also mandatory if your turnover exceeds Rs.1 crore. If accounts are not audited, a minimum penalty of 0.5% of turnover may be levied (maximum Rs.1.5 lakh). The due date of filing of tax returns for financial year 2015-16, where audit is mandatory, is 30 September 2016.

Source: Cleartax founder Mr. Archit Gupta