Gross Total Income As Per Income Tax Act

Tax in itself is a tedious phenomenon and the complexity increases when various terms are also added to the list. We all know that tax is levied upon income. But, income has been further classified and referred to by various names in India such as

• Exempt Income
• Taxable Income
• Total income
• Gross Total Income
• Etc.

In this blogpost we will get you a detailed understanding upon Gross Total Income or GTI. What is the relevance of Gross Total Income? Why you should know about it? How it is calculated? The difference between GTI and TI (Total income) under the Income Tax Act in India and much more

What do you mean by Gross Total Income?

As the name suggests Gross Total Income is the aggregate of all the income earned by you during a specified period. According to Section 14 of the Income Tax Act 1961, the income of a person or an assessee can be categorised under these five heads,

• Income from Salaries
• Income from House Property
• Profits and Gains of Business and Profession
• Capital Gains
• Income from Other Sources

And, Gross Total income is arrived at when your earnings from all these five heads of income is taken together.

Why Gross Total Income (GTI) needs to be calculated?

The computation of gross total income is vital because

• It is the amount required to be disclosed while filing Income Tax Return
• Deductions under Chapter VI A are required to be deducted from GTI to arrive at the taxable or total income

Gross Total Income shall not include:

While calculating gross total income one must sum up all of their income without reducing the amount for any tax saving investments made under Section 80C to 80U under Income Tax Act 1961.

What are the various additions required to be made in Gross Total Income?

Apart from adding earnings from all five heads of income following shall also be added to calculate your gross total income

• Income to be added as per the clubbing provisions under the Income Tax Act
• Adjustments for set off and carry forward of losses
• Unexplained Tax Credit under section 68 of the Income Tax Act 1961, received whether in cash or credit. Which means receipt of any amount of which you do not have sufficient or valid explanation describing the source of receipt of such income. These categories of income are added to your Gross Total Income.
• Unexplained Investments i.e. the investments which you have made but you are unable to give satisfactory explanation about the source or improper disclosures have been made on your part. In all these situations your investments will be termed as unexplained investments as per the purview of section 69 of the Income Tax Act. also, it shall be added to your Gross Total Income (GTI)
• Assets and other money under Section 69A, valuables like money, jewellery etc for which no proper explanation is available with the assessee will be added to the Gross Total Income of the person.
• Undisclosed or lower disclosed income is added to the Gross Total Income as per the provisions of Section 69B of the Income Tax Act 1961. This relates to all those income and assets which you have not reported or made a lower disclosure then the actual funds.
• Unexplained expenditures under section 69C. In case you have made some expenses and no proper explanation regarding the same available then it would be added to your Gross Total Income and henceforth charged to taxes accordingly.
• Hundi amount borrowed or repaid. In case you have borrowed or repaid some amount on Hundi then it shall be added to your Gross Total income or GI as per the provisions of section 69D of the income tax act.

Although we have obtained an understanding on the above income and assets or expenditures which are added to the gross total income. But, these additions or nature of additions are not generally witnessed in routine.

What is the difference between Gross Total Income and Total Income?

Gross Total Income is calculated foremost by adding your income under all five heads of income. Now, to arrive at the Total income you must subtract from it the deductions under chapter VI A of the Income Tax Act 1961. I.e the deduction ranging form section 80C to 80U . Which means