Vickypedia-FY08

Since Feb 29, the day when Mr. P Chidambaram delivered his Union budget, I have had few emails to update the Vickypedia. So here I am back with the "Naya Nimbu Shakti", FY 08 compliant Vickypedia - Your Tax dashboard.
(Click here to download now; You can alternately right click and say "Save Target As..")

I also created the below FAQ for the benefit of new comers:
1. What is Vickypedia?
A: A very basic tool that calculates your 'Income Tax' and 'Net take home Salary';
Disclaimer: This tool is designed at the best interests of it's end user. Though at most care is taken to ensure its basic authenticity, this is far from being perfect; Figures are indicative and may not be accurate; Author is not responsible for any discrepancies that may arise in the calculations. Don't use it to finalize the amount that you need to pay to the IT dept!! Use it only for personal reference.

2. There are umpteen similar tools probably available in the internet. So whats different in this one ?
A: In my personal view, Simplicity and Aesthetics are the USP of this tool. Also this is a tool for the "tax payer" made by a "tax payer" (well.. ex tax payer.. .!!); So you can feel that the sheet is made from 'your' perspective and not from your auditor's perspective.

3. So any "tax payer" can use it?
A: No. Its made for salaried employees who pay income tax in India. The salary components used typically applies to professionals in the high end organized labor sector as it assumes a salary structure of Basic + HRA + Special pay etc., It also assumes that you are paying a professional tax of Rs. 200 every month;

4. What are the salient features:
A: There are quite a few actually.
- The complete tool is in fact a dashboard; A one stop overview of your salary and tax story.
- Data is captured in one screen; Results are displayed in the same screen;
- Tool is very printer friendly and is printable in a single A4 sheet for handy reference; (Thank you Yogish)
- The tool has a HRA (House Rent Allowance) Wizard, that gives you the actual component (out of the rent that you pay) that is tax free. It also deduces the maximum rent that one can afford to pay which will make one pay zero tax over HRA, there by taking its full advantage. If your actual rent is above this figure, there is no further tax advantage and if its below this figure you are leaking additional amount as tax on underutilized HRA.
- The tool is focused upon the Net Take home salary. I've even deduced a perceived Monthly net salary component, which gives you the holistic view of the monthly salary

5. What is the tool based on? Is it safe to download this..? Does it uses Macro?
A: This is a simple MS Excel spread sheet. There are no Macros in the tool. I've made this by simply leveraging MS Excel's powerful arithmetic, logical and referential capabilities.

6. Why is the tool not fully editable?
A: The tool allows user inputs as needed on the fields with Yellow background. Other cells are protected because its very easy to inadvertently modify these cells and most of them are formula based. Trust me, some formulas are so long that it will be a mess to fix it again if you change them!! A password will be prompted when you try to edit cells that you needn't.

7. What is "Monthly Take Home - Cash" and what is "Net Monthly Take Home Salary"?
A: "Monthly Take Home - Cash" (cell: G27 in the sheet) is the amount that you usually see on the first of every month in your bank account. "Net Monthly Take Home Salary" (cell: G32 in the sheet) is the figure including the "Monthly Take Home - Cash" and monthly pro-rated values of annual components such as LTA, Medical and other allowances that are paid one time through the year. For instance, a high gross salary may or may not result in a high take home salary as LTA or medical or other annual component might skew up the stack; So "Net Monthly Take Home Salary" completes the picture. Mind you, its still a "real" figure except that you don't feel it that way on a monthly basis.

8. How accurate are these figures?
A: If you have made proper tax savings declarations at the beginning of the financial year, then the actual take home salary should be reasonably accurate. If you change these declarations during the course of the year, then this figure reflects your average actual take home (i.e., Sum of 12 months' salary divided by 12); Similarly, I've calculated the perceived monthly net salary under the maximum tax bracket (30%); So if you are in a lower tax bracket, then expect a more perceived monthly net. (Taxing the perceived net based on one's actual bracket is a little more cumbersome process; May be in the next version !!!) However the actual net salary is calculated properly across all tax brackets;

9. Does it cost anything? Can I re-distribute this tool?
A: This is not a commercial tool and you are very welcome to use it prudently. Always refer the original source to others for downloads. Besides properly crediting the author for his efforts, the end users are sure to get the latest version of the tool.

10. How do I send Comments/ Suggestions/ Errors on this tool?
A: Use the Comments section of this blog or send me an email.

11. What are the known limitations?
A: The tool doesn't cater for advance tax needs of the users such as Tax on Capital Gains, Tax benefits on NSC interest accruals and other special tax exemption sections and categories. Please use the cells C16 (Other components - Taxable) and C17 (Other components - Tax free) for including additional income accordingly. The idea of this tool is to give a bird's eye view on one's salary profile with minimal user inputs and displaying key outputs. While its possible to make it as complete and correct as possible by adding all exotic features, I didn't want to do it at the expense of its simplicity.

12. What is the motivation behind this tool?
A: Doing unofficial tax consultancy was one of my hobbies at my work. And for some reason I always found that the realm of salary, payroll and tax is perceived as the domain of Payroll executives, Auditors and that retired Government Officer uncle who lived next door. Hence I playfully started with a simple tax calculator last year to demystify these notions. I received many encouraging responses and rolled it as a handy, unofficial tool in my local circle. I decided to update the tool and publish it in this blog because after Budget 2008 I received many a enthusiastic shout from the existing users. Beside I just thought of seeding some useful content to Internet, a place from where I've been only leeching info so far !! I would be happy if you felt I've graduated in that attempt after using this tool.