Bank customers want to know whether the monthly RML payments are taxable. Technically they should not be, as the payments are in the nature of a loan, but banks want the IT department to explicitly clarify this point. Another aspect is, whether the interest accrued on this reverse mortgage loan can be treated at par with that of accrued interest in case of a normal housing loan. At present, such interest accrued up to the tune of Rs. 1.5 lakh per year can be deducted from the taxable income. Bankers themselves want clarification on another point. The interest accrued on the monthly payments is booked as income, but banks want to pay tax on it only when they recover the money by selling the house after the borrower dies! In these circumstances, the National Housing Bank has written to the Income Tax department, conveying concerns of banks and their customers on these issues related to the treatment of loans from reverse mortgage arrangements.