In the Finance Act-2015 a new sub-section 1B to section 80CCD in the Income Tax Act-1961 was inserted whereby an additional deduction of Rs. 50,000/- is offered to the taxpayer for contribution in the National Pension Scheme (NPS). This deduction is over and above the deduction of Rs. 1.50 Lac available u/s 80C for contribution in LIC/PPF/NSC etc. Deduction of Rs 50,000/- under 80CCD (1B) is exclusively for investments in NPS and cannot be availed against any other investment. NPS is a voluntary pension scheme regulated by Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA).

RBI has released a Notification on interest rates on two popular Tax saving schemes WEF 01.04.2014. These schemes are Public Provident Fund Scheme 1968 and Senior Citizens Saving Scheme 2004. PPF is most popular tax saving scheme among small investor as interest from PPF account is exempted from income tax. SCSS scheme is useful for senior citizens either having income less than exemption limit or falling under first slab of income tax  rates.

First-time homebuyers can avail an additional income-tax deduction, till March 31 this year, of up to Rs 1 lakh paid as interest on a loan amount of less than Rs 25 lakh for a property value of not more than R40 lakh. For the deduction to be availed, the loan has to be sanctioned between April 1, 2013, and March 31, 2014.

Withdrawal of Provident Fund may attract Income Tax. The Income Tax Department recently told EPFO (Employees Provident Fund Organisation) to deduct Tax (TDS) from the withdrawal amount, if the withdrawal happened before completing five years of subscription. Tax officials have cited a rule in the 1961 Income-Tax Act that taxes PF withdrawals by employees before completing five years of contributions into the EPF is taxable.

Section 80D of the Income-Tax Act, talks about the deduction in respect of premium pad towards a health insurance policy for self, spouse, dependent children and parent.

Things to be Done
1.Service Tax Due dates:
Due date to deposit Service Tax on services provided/deemed to provided in month/quarter is 5th of succeeding Month, but due date to deposit tax for  month/quarter ending on  31st March ,is 31st March itself. So make sure that you pay your service tax due for the month of March /quarter Jan-March,13 as the case may be by 31st March ,2013.
2.  Excise Duty Due Date :  
Same rule of Service Tax is applicable on Excise Duty also, So excise duty due for month/quarter ended 31st March is to be deposited by 31st March,2013 itself.
3. Due Date for Advance Tax : 
Generally tax payers thinks that advance tax due dates are 15 June, 15 Sep, 15 Dec  and 15 march ,but forget about 31st March. 31st March is last day for depositing your advance tax under Income tax .If you have balance advance tax then pay it by 31st March , otherwise you have to bear another 1 % interest u/s 234B at least for one month.So even if you pay balance tax on First April,2013 ,you have to pay interest on balance advance tax u/s 234B for one month.
4. Advance tax for capital Gain : 
Importance of 31st March in Indian Taxes Second point under advance tax is, if you have Income from Capital Gain then Income tax rules/act provide you exemption from depositing installment of advance due on capital gain amount before the accrual of such capital gain Income. but this is subject to condition that you pay balance tax with in Financial year.If you are unable to deposit the advance tax due on capital gain with in financial year then above exemption will not be available to you.
Example: Suppose a person earned income from capital gain Rs 12,00,000/- on March,16 and advance tax due is Rs 1,33,900/- .In this case, if person pay his advance tax by 31st March then no interest is to be charged u/s 234C but if he do not  pay advance tax by 31 March , then interest u/s 234C will be payable by him amounting to Rs 4951/- from the first installment due date ?.
5 .Return for assessment year 2011-12
If you have not filed your Income Tax return for the assessment year 2011-12 ,then go far it before 31st March 2013 ,you still have a chance ,as belated return can be filed with in one year from the end of assessment year.
6. File Return for assessment year 2012-13 without penalty 
If you have not filed your Income Tax return for the assessment year 2012-13 ,then go far it before 31st March 2013 ,you still have a chance to file your return without paying any penalty as the assessment year closes on 31st March.
7. Savings For Financial year:
If are planning to save tax u/s 80C or 80D(Medical /health insurance ) or other section then purchase Tax saving instruments like,NSC,PPF ,Lic receipt before 31st March so that you can take maximum benefit provided under these heads.
Further make sure that you cheque also got cleared before 31st March , as in few investment schemes cheque clearing date may be treated as your investment date .So its better to deposit in cash except section 80D (medical insurance/health insurance).
8. Filing of ITR-V for Assessment year 2010-11,2011-12 and 2012-13
If you filed your income tax return online without digital signature for above year but have not sent your ITR_V to CPC yet , then you should do it now , as you can submit ITR-V for AY 2010-11,2011-12, 20012-13  by 31st March , 2013.
9.Wealth Tax return :
Due date of filing of return in respect of Financial  year 2012-13 ,who failed to file return on due dates  Wealth Tax Form BA

Senior citizen saving scheme is best interest paying scheme for eligible senior citizens.Investment in this scheme is also eligible for deduction under section 80C. Interest in this scheme is 9.3 % per   year ,which is quarterly compounding. Interest earned on this deposit is taxable under income tax act.

Salient features of the Senior Citizens Savings Scheme, 2004:-

Tenure of the deposit account     5 years, which can be extended by 3 years.
Rate of interest                            9.3 per cent per annum
Frequency of computing interest Quarterly
Taxability                                     Interest is fully taxable.                    
Whether TDS is applicable          Yes. Tax will be deducted at source.
Investment to be in multiples of ` 1000/-
Maximum investment limit `         15 lakh
Minimum eligible age for investment 60 years (55 years for those who have retired on superannuation or under a voluntary or special voluntary scheme). The retired personnel of Defence Services (excluding Civilian Defence Employees) will be eligible to invest irrespective of the age limits subject to the fulfillment of other specified conditions
Premature closure/withdrawal facility Permitted after one year of opening the account but with penalty.
Transferability                               Not transferable
Tradability                                     Not tradable
Nomination facility                        Nomination facility is available.
Modes of holding                       Accounts can be held both in single and joint holding modes. Joint holding is allowed only with spouse.
Application forms available with Post Offices and designated branches of 24 Nationalised banks and one private sector bank
Applicability to NRI, PIO and HUFs Non Resident Indians (NRIs), Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) and Hindu Undivided Family (HUF) are not eligible to open an account under the Scheme.
Transfer from one deposit office to another Transfer of account from one deposit office to another is permitted.