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Income from other sources is the residual head. A receipt that is income, and that does not fall under salaries, house property, business or profession, or capital gains, is computed here. The head is broader than its conversational reputation. It includes interest on deposits, most dividends received by individuals, many gifts above the prescribed threshold, family pension, and certain winnings. It also includes items that households forget until the annual information statement lists them.
Interest on savings accounts, fixed deposits, recurring deposits and most bonds is taxable under this head. A limited deduction for savings-account interest is available under section 80TTA for individuals other than senior citizens, and a larger deduction under section 80TTB for resident senior citizens, in each case only under the older regime. Under the new regime those deductions are not available. Tax deducted at source by a bank does not make the interest tax-free. It is a prepayment. The gross interest remains chargeable.
Dividends received from domestic companies and from mutual funds are taxable in the hands of the individual at slab rates. They are not exempt by reason of having suffered tax elsewhere. They belong under this head unless a specific provision places them elsewhere.
A sum of money, or specified property, received without consideration from a non-relative may be taxable if its value exceeds ₹50,000 in the year, subject to exceptions the statute lists — including receipts on the occasion of marriage, and receipts under a will or by way of inheritance. Gifts from specified relatives are not charged under this rule. Informal family transfers should still be documented, because the exception is a legal category, not a mood.
Family pension is taxed under this head, with a limited deduction. Winnings from lotteries, crossword puzzles and certain games are charged at the special rate prescribed, without the ordinary deductions. Casual receipts that are income should be identified before the return is filed, not after a notice refers to the annual information statement.
Interest accrued on a fixed deposit is often taxable on an accrual basis even if the deposit has not matured. Waiting for maturity before reporting the interest is not, in that case, in accordance with the method the payer reports to the Department.
The Gill family in Zirakpur reported salary and nothing else. Form 26AS showed interest on two deposits and a small dividend. None of it had been concealed in any deliberate sense. It had been ignored. The revised computation added the interest under this head and reduced the refund. Thereafter they downloaded the annual information statement before they began the return, not after.
This head is where forgotten credits accumulate. The annual information statement is the practical method of finding them before the Department does.
Treating tax deducted by a bank as the final tax on deposit interest, and omitting the interest from the return because “tax has already been paid.”