National Savings Certificate

Investment in National Savings Certificate can be made by opening up a savings account in the post office. Following that, you have to get Net Banking Services Activated for your account. Once that is done, National Savings Certificate can be purchased through the next banking portal.

National Savings Certificate can also be bought from public sector banks, a few authorized private banks, and a post office. However, if you are buying NSC from the post office, it is to be noted that the post-office issued printed National Savings Certificates issued from the post are now discontinued.

The interest earned from the investment made in National Savings Certificate (NSC) is taxable only in the final year when the earned interest is not reinvested. Therefore, if you have made an investment in a 5 year NSC, the interest earned during the first 4 years is to be included in your Income Tax Return (ITR) as a tax-saving investment u/s 80C. The NSC interest earned in the final year. i.e., 5th year is taxable, hence it is to be included in the taxable income mentioned in your ITR under the head “Income from Other Sources”. The NSC interest income is subsequently taxed according to the applicable slab rate.

The NSC tax benefits that come under Section 80C are included in the Income Tax Act, of 1961..

The NSC post office account can be opened by visiting the nearest Post office branch. You need to submit Form 1, along with self-attested documents, and pay in form of cash, check or DD. After the successful verification of these documents, your NSC account will be opened in the Post office.

The National Saving Certificate interest rate is determined by the government. As of now, the NSC interest rate stands at 6.80%. You can calculate NSC interest manually or use the NSC calculators available online

You need to visit the post-office branch to encash your NSC certificates after maturity. You would be required to submit valid ID proof for the same and a dully-filled form 2.

You can also do it online if you wish to redeem your e-NSC certificate. This would require you to log into your Internet Banking account that was used to purchase NSC certificate. Following that, you can make a request for redemption of your e-NSC certificate. The amount will be credited to your linked savings account once the process is completed.