Senior Citizen Savings Scheme is a very good option for senior citizens to create a source of income after retirement. You can open a Senior Citizen Savings Scheme Account by going to post office, government bank or private bank. However, you can now start investing by opening an online SCSS account from home. Know whether you can open more than one account or not
New Delhi. Senior Citizen Savings Scheme (SCSS), a government-backed post office scheme, is a very good option for senior citizens to provide a source of income after retirement. At present the interest rate on Government SCSS is 8.2 percent.
You can open a Senior Citizen Savings Scheme account by visiting any post office or any government or private bank. However, now you can start investing by opening an online SCSS account sitting at home. But can you open more than one SCSS account? Let us know in detail.
You can open more than one account
The answer to this question is yes, you can open more than one Senior Citizen Savings Account (SCSS). The thing to note here is that even if you open multiple accounts, the total investment in these accounts cannot exceed the SCSS total investment limit. If you want, you can open a single or joint account with your husband or wife.
Who is eligible?
To avail SCSS, you must be 60 years or older. However, if your age is more than 55 years but less than 60 years and you are retired, then in this situation also you can avail the benefit of this scheme.
Get tax benefits
Since this scheme is supported by the Government of India, the possibility of losing money in this scheme is negligible. This scheme matures in 5 years, which you can extend further for 3 years.
Apart from this, you can also avail tax benefits in this. Under Section 80C of Income Tax, you can avail exemption up to Rs 1.5 lakh. In this scheme you can invest minimum Rs 1000 and maximum Rs 30 lakh.
You can withdraw money even before maturity
In SCSS you are also given the facility to withdraw money before maturity. You can withdraw money only after one year of opening SCSS account.
Individuals can withdraw the amount after one year of account opening. There are no charges for premature closure of account within one year of account opening. However, if the account is closed after one year but within two years of opening, a charge of 1.5 per cent will be deducted from the principal amount.
If the account is closed after two years but within five years of account opening, a charge of 1 percent will be deducted from the principal amount.
