Co-borrowers claim tax deduction benefits with a single certificate issued by the bank

A certificate is required from the bank to claim the tax benefits on home loan repayments. The bank has indicated that it will issue a single certificate showing both of us as co-borrowers? How can both of us claim the tax benefits based on this single certificate?

You should enter into a simple arrangement with your spouse, right in the beginning itself, on the lines of the draft given on a plain paper or on a Rs.100 stamp paper. You can obtain 2 copies of the same certificate from the bank and each of you can submit one of the certificates along with a copy of the arrangement between the two of you. This should logically ensure that both of you get the deduction. However, there are no clear guide-lines in this regard. Some employers (most notably government sector employers) sometimes do not give the benefit of such deduction while calculating the tax deduction at source from salary. In such cases, you have no choice but to claim this as a refund while filing your tax returns.

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