Date:10/07/2005 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2005/07/10/stories/2005071001811601.htm

Back Rent to mother

An unmarried daughter staying with her mother and doing a small business is an income tax assessee. Can the daughter claim HRA exemption if she pays rent to her mother? The daughter has no house of her own.

K.P. Rajagopal,

Coonoor.

The daughter is in business. Exemption for HRA is available, subject to conditions, only if one is in employment. She may however claim rent as a business expense if it is reasonable and uninfluenced by the mother-daughter relationship.

The author is a Delhi-based Chartered Accountant.

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S. Muralidharan