IDFC Fixed Term Plan Series 166 - Direct Plan

Suitability:

Fixed Maturity Plans, as the name suggests, are funds that have a fixed tenure which can vary from 3 months to 5 years or even more. Upon the completion of the stated tenure, the fund is wound up and investors' money is returned to them along with accumulated gains. Therefore, they are similar to bank fixed deposits except that they do not offer guaranteed returns even though they aim to better what an FD can fetch.

If you are looking to invest for a defined tenure during which you are sure you will not need to redeem your money, you may consider investing in an FMP of a matching duration. But avoid them if your investment horizon is more than 3 years. We believe that retail investors who are looking to invest for 3 years or more should have at least some portion of their money in equity because of its ability to earn much higher returns. That makes FMPs unsuitable.

Taxability of earnings:

Capital gains

• If the mutual fund units are sold after 3 years from the date of investment, gains are taxed at the rate of 20% after providing the benefit of inflation indexation.
• If the mutual units are sold within 3 years from the date of investment, entire amount of gain is added to the investors' income and taxed according to the applicable slab rate.
• No tax is to be paid as long as you continue to hold the units.

Dividends

• Dividends paid by the mutual fund scheme are taxed at the rate of 25% (effectively 29.12%, including surcharge and cess). This is known as Dividend Distribution Tax (DDT). Though the investor does not pay this tax directly, it is deducted from the dividend income before passing on to the investor.