Budget 2022: LTCG surcharge capped at 15%; decoding impact on investments

The surcharge on long term capital gains (LTCG) has now been taxed at 15 percent. Earlier, one had to pay a 15 percent surcharge only for equity and arbitrage funds and everything else was at a higher surcharge, but now debt, real estate, unlisted shares, gold, the LTCG surcharge on any of these assets has been capped at 15 percent.

The biggest benefit is for those whose total income is above Rs 2 crore threshold. So, what this means is total income which is salary plus capital gains combined, if it crosses the Rs 2 crore threshold on the salary portion then one will be paying the surcharge at 25 percent, but on the capital gains portion, one will now be paying the surcharge only at 15 percent.

This is a relief for those who have large holdings in debt funds or unlisted shares etc., and this will bring all of these assets at par with the equity assets.