My son opened a PPF account in a post office in New Delhi in November 1993 and the subscriptions were made till June 1997. He then went to the US. How can this money be withdrawn? Can someone else withdraw this amount?

Tapan Kumar Bandyopadhyay, Calcutta

Any Indian can open and maintain a single PPF account. NRIs can also open a PPF account but they will have to make subscriptions to this account from their NRO account on non-repatriable basis. A default account can be regularised by paying the default subscriptions along with a fine of Rs 100 per year. Investments in a PPF cannot be withdrawn before 15 years unless in the case of death of the account holder. The nominee or a legal heir can withdraw the amount.

Tax relief

I have taken a home loan of Rs 10 lakh for 10 years. How much tax relief shall I get every year till the loan is repaid?

Asim Banerjee, Khidderpore

A loan repayment has two components — principal and interest. For home loan repayment, both the components are eligible for deductions. You can claim a deduction of up to Rs 1 lakh towards principal repayment and another Rs 1.5 lakh towards interest payment. You can get a break up of principal and interest payment, called loan amortisation table, from your lender bank at the end of a financial year.

PAN application

My bank has deducted Rs 3,354 tax at source for financial year 2006-07 from my annual interest income from deposits. I want to submit income tax return for the assessment year 2007-08. I do not have a PAN. How do I get it?

L. F. Chung, Calcutta

You have to obtain Form 49 A from IT PAN service centres or TIN facilitation centres, UTI Investor Services or National Securities Depository Ltd or download it from the website of the I-T department. Submit it to the IT PAN service centres or TIN facilitation centres. You can also apply online at www.tin-nsdl.com. You have to pay a processing fee of Rs 60 plus service tax. On submitting the application, you will receive a 15-digit acknowledgment number.

If you have any queries about investing or taxes or a high-cost purchase you are planning, mail to: btgraph@abpmail.com, or write to: Business Telegraph, 6 Prafulla Sarkar Street, Calcutta 700 001.