How to claim tax exemption on Loan Principal and Interest?

We all plan to purchase properties when we are financially sound to pay the home loan EMI. However, not many of us are aware of the tax benefits that we can claim out of the home loan that we apply for while we buy a property. In our previous posts we have discussed about how you can claim HRA and tax benefits if you have a home loan for the property you have just purchased.

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Today we are going to understand how you can claim tax exemption on loan principal and interest.

When it comes to tax breaks on the applied home loan, you are eligible to claim tax benefits only for the principal of the loan amount before the completion of your house. On the completion of your house, you are then eligible to claim tax benefits on the total interest paid till the date of completion of the house. In case where the house is let out, the entire interest paid on home loan can be deducted.

Tax Exemption on Loan Principal and Interest

The interest that is paid on a home loan is not deducted directly from the salary income for home loan. The calculation of income from house property is done for each house that the individual owns. A self employed person is eligible to avail tax benefit for the rent that he pays for his residence and can claim the deduction under section 80GG of Income Tax Act. Here, no HRA exemption is available in case of a self employed individual.

A tax payer can avail the following tax benefits on home loans:

1. If you have applied for a home loan and you want to repay the principal amount on home loan, then the principal amount will be deducted from gross total income. In case the house is let out, the deduction for the entire interest paid on home loan is available.
2. Tax benefit on interest payment. 
3. Additionally, interest paid on home loan during the pre-construction period, i.e., period prior to the financial year in which house is purchased or constructed can also be claimed as deduction. 

We shall discuss about how you can claim both, the HRA and the home loan tax benefits together in our upcoming post. Till then stay tuned!

Read More:

1. HRA and Tax Benefits from Home Loans?
2. Confused how home loans can get you Tax benefits?
3. Homes that are well connected!

Understanding EMI calculations

Have a property in mind and have planned to opt for a home loan for the same?

As spoken in our previous blog, Equated Monthly Installment is more about Evaluation, Management and Implementation of the research you carry out before opting for a home loan. Post the research having a complete understanding about the calculation of EMI is important.  To begin with, let us understand what EMI stands for.

EMI or Equated Monthly Installment is described by the Investopedia as “ a fixed payment amount made by a borrower to a lender at a specified date each calendar month. Equated monthly installments are used to pay off both the interest and the principal each month, so that over a specified number of years, the loan is paid off in full.”

Surely, this definition is self explanatory, however, we shall have an in depth understanding about EMI with the help of an example in the latter part of the blog.

From the definition we can arrive at an understanding that when a borrower borrows money, he is entitled to make a certain fixed amount of payment to the lender periodically for several years so as to complete he loan repayment. This loan repayment can differ from one payment scheme to another, depending on the comfort of the borrower to repay the loan over a certain period of time which may be short or long term. 

One of the main benefits of paying EMI for the borrower is that he is well informed about the amount he needs to pay to the lender every month, making his budgeting process easier.

The formula for EMI (in arrears) is:

or, equivalently,

Where: 

• P is the principal amount borrowed, 

• A is the periodic amortization payment, 

• r is the periodic interest rate divided by 100 (annual interest rate also divided by 12 in case of monthly installments), and

• n is the total number of payments (for a 30-year loan with monthly payments n = 30 × 12 = 360).

Consider an example, a person takes a loan of 20,00,000 units of currency from the bank at 10.5% annual interest of 10 years (120 months), then the EMI can be calculated equating the mentioned details in the equation stated above in the following way:

EMI = 

Units of currency 20,00,000 * 0.00875 * (1 + 0.00875)^120 / ((1 + 0.00875)^120 – 1)= Units of currency 26,987.00

Hence, the person will be paying 26,987.00 units of currency for 120 months to completely repay the loan taken from the bank. The total amount that he would be paying will sum up to 26,987*120= 32,38,440.00 units of currency. This includes 12,38,440 units of currency as the interest paid towards the loan.