Tax Implications for Intraday Traders and How Gains from Trading are Taxed LTCG or STCG?

Basics:

The stock market is second to none when it comes to investment, since many investors and traders actively participate in trading and profit from it.

There are two sorts of investors:

1.Those that keep stock investments for more than a year and report their earnings as LTCG (long term capital gains).

2.Those who keep equity assets for more than a day but less than a year are the second category of investor and report their earnings as STCG (Short term capital gains).

Every financial market has a variety of investors, each of which uses a different method to attain their financial objectives. As a result, each investor’s return on investment (ROI) may differ.

As a result, taxation on persons who rely on salaried income is simple to calculate. However, as compared to the former, the taxation on trading revenue can be a little more problematic.

Because trading income differs from trader to trader, taxation laws cannot be applied equally to all traders. The amount of tax imposed might be varied, just as the quantity of income.

If you’re new to the trading world, taxation may appear to be a difficult concept to grasp.

Here, we’ll go through all of the parts of taxation that will help you comprehend the tax implications of various trading strategies.

Various Taxation Options for Traders

Trading taxes are divided into four categories:

LTCG – Capital Gains on Long-Term Investments

Long-term capital gains are a sort of tax imposed by the Indian government on traders who hold an investment for a long time. For example, if a trader is looking for a long-term investment and parks it for a year or longer, any purchase or sales profit from the investment is subject to long-term capital gain tax.

Long-term capital gains are exempted under section 10 of the Income Tax Act when it comes to equities investments. Profits are completely tax-free in such instances. However, this is only true in particular circumstances.

If your equity investments cross the threshold of over 1 lakh in a financial year, the tax will be charged at 10%.

STCG- Capital Gains on a Short-Term Basis

The length of keeping securities for short term capital gains is less than one year. Short-term capital gains investments can be kept for longer than a day but less than a year, according to industry standards.

The tax implications of trading income via equity are that any capital gains made by selling a stock result in a 15 percent tax deduction.

Short-term capital gains, on the other hand, would never be taxed at the regular 15% rate until your total taxable income is less than Rs 2.5 lakhs.

Do long-term capital gains and short-term capital gains carry over capital losses?

Since long term gains are tax-free, they do not carry forward long term capital losses. Short term capital gains are taxable and therefore they can be carried forward for a year of 8 years from the financial year during which the losses occur.

Capital Gains vs. Business Income

One of the most straightforward ways to file your capital gain returns is to include them in your income statement. However, there are several circumstances in which your earnings or losses from stock trading are not deductible on your tax return.
Individuals who are traders by profession or who hold most of their equities as a stock in trade may experience this; in such circumstances, the earnings or losses from stock trading can be counted as business income, and the returns generated must be submitted accordingly.
The Income Tax has defined specific parameters to distinguish between typical capital gains and capital gains as a business income, which are outlined below:

If an individual’s share trading transaction volume surpasses Rs 2 crore in a fiscal year, the individual must seek an audit, and the audit may force them to file this income as a business income.

The profit threshold is another technique to distinguish between capital gains and capital gains as business revenue.

To identify income from equities, the income tax agency has set a preset profit rate (6%).
If the profit percentage is less than 6% of the total volume traded, stock and share income might be classified as business income rather than ordinary capital gains.

Profits from a Speculative Business

Intraday stock trading generates business income.

There are no rates for speculative business income because capital gains are taxed at a fixed percentage. Instead, under section 43 of the Income Tax Act, your speculative business income is taxed alongside your tax income.
This means that if you have both salary and speculative business income, the tax will be applied to your total income.

Business Income That Isn’t Speculative

Non-speculative business income is defined as revenue generated by trading futures and options on recognised exchanges. F&O revenue, like speculative business income, can be combined with your other sources of income. As a result, your whole income is taxed at the appropriate rate slab.

Conclusion

Traders are well-versed in market conditions, stock values, and company performance; they also need to be well-versed in the tax rate slabs that apply to various trading strategies.

This knowledge is useful for both traders and newcomers who are looking to invest in stocks for the first time.