All information about Senior Citizen Savings Scheme (SCSS)

Senior Citizen Savings Scheme (SCSS)

Eligibility:

• An individual of the Age of 60 years or more may open the account.
• An individual of the age of 55 years or more but less than 60 years who has retired on superannuation or under VRS can also open account subject to the condition that the account is opened within one month of receipt of retirement benefits and amount should not exceed the amount of retirement benefits
• A retired personnel of Defence Services (excluding Civilian Defence employees) shall be eligible to open an account under this Scheme on attaining the age of 50 years subject to the fulfilment of other specified conditions.

Account Opening:

• A depositor may operate more than one account in individual capacity or jointly with spouse (husband/wife)
• Joint account can be opened with spouse only and first depositor in Joint account is the investor.
• There shall be only one deposit in the account in multiple of INR.1000/- maximum not exceeding INR 15 lakh.
• Account can be opened by cash for the amount below INR 1 lakh and for INR 1 Lakh and above by Cheque only.
• In case of Cheque, the date of realization of Cheque in Govt. account shall be date of opening of account.
• Account can be transferred from one post office to another
• Any number of accounts can be opened in any post office subject to maximum investment limit by adding balance in all accounts.

Interest Payments:

In case of SCSS accounts, quarterly interest shall be payable on 1st working day of April, July, October and January. It will be applicable at all CBS Post Offices.

Quarterly interest of SCSS accounts standing at CBS Post offices can be credited in any savings account standing at any other CBS post offices.

Interest payable, Rates, Periodicity etc.

From 01.04.2020 , interest rates are as follows:-

7.4 ​% per annum, payable from the date of deposit of 31st March/30th Sept/31st December in the first instance & thereafter, interest shall be payable on 31st March, 30th June, 30th Sept and 31st December.

Premature closure:

Premature closure is allowed,

(i) If closed before 1 year , no interest will be payable, if paid already will be recovered.

(ii) after one year on deduction of an amount equal to1.5% of the deposit to be deducted

(iii) after 2 years 1% of the deposit to be deducted.

Extension after Maturity:

Maturity period is 5 years

After maturity, the account can be extended for further three years within one year of the maturity by giving application in prescribed format. In such cases, account can be closed at any time after expiry of one year of extension without any deduction.

Taxability:

TDS is deducted at source on interest if the interest amount is more than INR 50,000/- p.a

Investment under this scheme qualifies for the benefit of Section 80C of the Income Tax Act, 1961 from 1.4.2007

Other Information:

Nomination facility is available at the time of opening and also after opening of account.

Disclaimer: 

The above article is meant for informational purpose only and does not purport to be advice or opinion, legal or otherwise, whatsoever. While due care has been taken during the compilation of this article to ensure that the information is accurate to the best of our knowledge and belief, the contents of such article do not substitute for professional advice that may be required. The individual expressly disclaims all and any liability to any person who has read this document or otherwise, in respect of anything, and of consequences of anything done, or omitted to be done by any such person in reliance upon the contents of this article.