Finance Bill 2023: Govt does away with taxation benefits for debt funds

Lok Sabha on Friday passed the Finance Bill giving effect to tax proposals without debate. The proposal to remove the capital gains tax benefit given to debt mutual fund investors is also amended. According to the amendment, debt funds not having more than 35% invested in equity shares would be taxed at the income tax slab level. It will also be treated as a short term capital gain.

So far, debt mutual funds are treated as long-term investments if held for more than 3 years and taxed at the rate of 20% along with indexation benefits or 10% without indexation. (Indexation benefit is where the taxes are calculated accounting for inflation). For those with a holding period of less than 3 years, they are taxed according to their tax slab.

The changes, are also applicable for gold, international equity and even domestic equity fund of funds (FoFs).

This will be applicable from April 1, 2023 and therefore, investors who want to take advantage before the proposed changes come into effect can do so before year-end.

Experts say that these proposals are a big negative for the mutual fund industry which will have to overhaul their debt portfolio. Meanwhile, banks are likely to see an increase in fixed deposit flows because there will be no added benefit of investing in debt funds versus FDs.