Eligibility criteria: The deduction under this section is available only to individuals. This means, if you are a HUF, AOP, company or any other kind of taxpayer, you cannot claim any benefit under this section.
Amount limit: This deduction (up to Rs 50,000) is over and above the Rs 2 lakh limit under section 24 of the income tax act.
Read more about the deduction of Rs 2 lakh on interest on the home loan.
Other conditions: To claim this deduction, you should not own any other house property on the date of the sanction of a loan from a financial institution.
Section 80EE came into effect from the financial year 2013-14. It was
available for only 2 years, FY 2013-14 and FY 2014-15. The deduction
allowed earlier was limited to a maximum of Rs 1 lakh in total and was
available for only 2 financial years.
However, this section has
been reintroduced, effective FY 2016-17 (AY 2017-18). Now the deduction
is allowed for up to Rs 50,000 per year until the loan is repaid.
The section does not specify if you need to be a Resident to be able to claim this benefit. Therefore it can be concluded that both Resident and Non-Resident Indians can claim this deduction.
The section also does not specify if this house should be self-occupied to claim the deduction. So, borrowers living in rented houses can also claim this deduction.
Moreover, the deduction can only be claimed by individuals for the house purchases jointly or singly. If a person jointly owns the house with a spouse and they both are paying the instalments of the loan, then both of them can claim this deduction.
If you are able to satisfy the conditions of both Section 24 and Section 80EE of the Income Tax Act, be quick to claim the benefits.
Therefore, this deduction is in addition to the Rs 2 lakh limit allowed under section 24.
Under section 24(b), a deduction of Rs 2 lakhs is
allowed for self-occupied property, and entire interest is deductible
for let out property.
However, under section 80EE, an additional
deduction of Rs 50,000 is allowed only after exhausting the limit of
section 24(b). It can be availed by individuals buying the house for the
first time and loans sanctioned by financial institutions between
1.04.2016 and 31st March 2017.
As per the law, the deduction under section 80EE is allowed to the individuals purchasing residential house property for the first time. They should not possess any other house on the date of sanction of loan from the financial institution. Hence, if another house is purchased subsequently, deduction under section 80EE can be continued to be claimed on the first house.
Rebate under section 80EE is available only to those individual borrowers whose loan was sanctioned between 1st April 2016 and 31st March 2017.
For claiming deduction under section 80EE, it is not
required to reside in the same property on which the benefit is availed.
The borrower can claim the deduction even if he is staying in a rented
house.