എന്‍റെ ലോകം... (My World...)

Perl Critic

2011-07-14T16:48:00.001+05:30

14 July 2011, Bangalore

Today I came across an interesting application. Its called Perl Critic- a tool which helps to find errors in a perl code. This application can be obtained by installing ActivePerl (For windows) which is promoted by ActiveState. For other OS also its available. Click here for link.

It is a beautiful tool which helps all 'BEGINNER' level perl coders to understand their mistakes.

Filing Form 16A

2011-07-06T13:26:00.003+05:30

6 July 2011, Bangalore

I was working in an organisation for the last financial year (2010-2011) as an intern. They were paying me in the form of STIPEND.Every month they were deducting an amount of flat 10% of my stipend as tax. This deduction is done not according to tax laws. Here is the scenario.

Assume, I was getting a stipend of Rs 20,000/.I was paying Rs 2,000/- as tax and Rs 18,000/- to my bank account.
So annually,
Total stipend = Rs 2,40,000/-.
Tax deducted = Rs 24,000/-
The amount credited to my account = 2,16,000/-.
Here is the tax law (may not be accurate, I don't remember the slabs exactly).
If annual salary > 1,60,000 - no tax
if annual salary >1,60,000 and < 2,40,000 - 10 % tax.

So as per tax law, I was supposed to pay only (2,40,000-1,60,000)*.01 as tax. That is equivalent to Rs 8,000/-.
So I paid an extra amount of Rs 16,000/- as Tax.

For the last 3-4 weeks, I was asking lots of people whether I can reclaim this extra amount they deducted as tax. There were lots of opinions.

One of the old intern said, "I don't think we can file tax returns for stipends. When I asked one finance manager, he told me like that!"

CA guy, to whom I enquired, " Yeah, you can file this and claim the extra tax paid. But I need to prepare a balance sheet. I will show you once I complete the balance sheet. But, there is a chance that Income Tax people may came back and ask you explanation about the money I will be showing in the Balance Sheet. So you should be prepared for that".

This CA's opinion made me to think that, claiming back stipend is kind of illegal. So I was little bit demotivated. But I want to reconfirm it once again. I asked another auditor regarding this.

He said "Yes, you can claim it and there is no need of any balance sheet or anything. Also its quite legal. Everything is in black and white."

His replay gave me more confidence. Meanwhile I posted my query in a forum, where many people told me its absolutely legal and go ahead and claim it. Here is the link to the forum.Thanks to all those guys who gave me an answer.

Finally I filed for Tax Returns and I hope I will get refund.

I am wondering what the first CA guy was telling. He told me he got 4-5 yrs experience in this field and filed 15-20 form 16A's earlier. Still he gave me wrong information. Was he trying to bluff me ?? and get more money as his fees?? . How much money he must have grabbed from other people like this??? I don't know...

My Experience at RTO, Bangalore

2011-07-05T16:35:00.001+05:30

5-Jul-2011, Bangalore.

I went to KA-51 RTO in Bangalore on last saturday. It was for getting a sign from the Asst RTO. I can see corruption everywhere from the lowest level to the top level and that too very publicly. Even if I know RTOs are one of the most corrupted offices in India, I never expected this much.

As my brother-in-law moved to US from Bangalore, he wanted to transfer his car to Rajasthan. He took NOC (No Objection Certificate) from KA 51 RTO and submitted it to RTO in Rajasthan. There was some overwriting happened in the chassis number, so the Rajasthan RTO wants the correction to be counter signed by the Asst RTO. So he send me the NOC and his RC book, to get signed.

I went to RTO on that fine Saturday morning. It was really crowded everywhere in the office. I looked for the enquiry counter, found one, but no one inside the counter to help people....ok fine, I walked to the first floor. There was no discipline, so crowded, so noisy....I saw a nameplate telling Asst RTO in-front of a room. I went inside and told a person the situation. Fortunately he knew English which made my life better. He told me to contact a lady sitting in another place. I went to that person and again explained what I need. She told me to get the chassis number verified and get sealed by the clerks sitting near by. In between this, some one gave her a paper to sign along with Rs 20/-, which she put into her drawer without any blush, that also infront of everyone. I got surprised and went to the clerk. He looked into the NOC I gave, and was telling me this is an already issued NOC and who made all these overwriting. No one is supposed to make any markings in the sheet. I said that is why I came to clear that and he was refusing me like anything. Then I told Asst RTO only told me to get it verified. He started murmuring something, but gave me the paper sealed. In between I noticed another thing. There was a lady sitting near to this clerk. Some one came to her with a file and along with that, so many Rs 10/- and Rs 20/- notes. She took that money and put into her drawer and kept the file above all the files in her table.

I went to Asst RTO to get it sealed. This time she didnt speak anything, but took the RC book and wrote the chassis number once again and signed over it. Told me to get her seal under her sign. I went to the clerk again and asked him to seal. He tool a round seal having RT office address and was about to put that one. I stopped him in between and told him to put the seal of Asst RTO. Then he started questioning me who told that rubbish thing, and we know what seal to put. I said RTO only told me to put her seal. Since she was sitting just in-front of him, he didn't come with any more argument.

It was very clear that that guy was looking for some money from me. Other wise why all this drama from his side.
Any way, I am glad as I got what I need.

I am thinking what will I do next time when I will get my new bike. I need to get it registered in the same office and I am worried about how much bribe I need to pay to get it done.
Will wait and see....