Family declaration on Console

Overview

The family declaration feature on Zerodha’s Console platform allows multiple Zerodha accounts belonging to members of the same family to be linked under a single declarant account. Once linked, the family members’ portfolios, profit and loss statements, and tax reports can be viewed in an aggregated format from the primary (declarant) account, while each member’s account remains legally and operationally independent.

The feature is designed for households where multiple family members – spouses, parents and children, siblings – each maintain individual Zerodha accounts but where the primary investor or financial planner in the family wants consolidated visibility over the household’s overall investment position without the administrative burden of logging into each account separately.

Regulatory context

Securities accounts in India are individual – the law does not recognise joint brokerage accounts the way that joint bank accounts are standard. Each PAN holder maintains a separate demat account and trading account, and all transactions are recorded at the individual level for tax purposes. The family declaration feature works within these constraints: it provides aggregated reporting without merging accounts, commingling funds, or creating any joint legal obligation.

The declaration is entirely a display and reporting feature. It does not allow one family member to place orders on behalf of another, transfer funds between linked accounts, or create any shared margin pool. Each account continues to operate independently for all trading and settlement purposes.

Who can be declared as family

Zerodha defines eligible family members for the declaration feature as:

• Spouse
• Children (major, with their own Zerodha accounts)
• Parents
• Siblings (in some configurations)

Each member of the family group must independently consent to the linkage. The linkage is established through a confirmation step in the Console interface where the proposed family members verify their acceptance. A member who has not consented cannot be added to another account’s family group.

The declarant (primary account) is typically the account through which the aggregated view is accessed. There is no requirement that the declarant hold the largest portfolio or be the oldest member of the family group.

Aggregated portfolio view

After the family declaration is established, the declarant’s Console account displays two views:

• Individual view: the account’s own holdings, P&L, and transactions, as before.
• Family view: an aggregated display combining the holdings and P&L of all linked accounts.

The family view allows the declarant to see, at a glance, the total equity holdings, total mutual fund holdings (for accounts with Coin access), unrealised gains and losses, and sector-wise or stock-wise concentration across all linked accounts. This is useful for managing overall household asset allocation, identifying concentration risk (for example, all family members heavily invested in the same stock or sector), and planning rebalancing.

Tax reporting

A significant practical use of the family declaration is the generation of consolidated tax reports. At the end of the financial year, each account generates its own tax P&L report (showing short-term capital gains, long-term capital gains, and intraday turnover for tax audit purposes). The family declaration allows a consolidated P&L report to be generated that combines these figures across all linked accounts.

This consolidated report is useful for households where a single person – typically the primary earner or the family’s accountant – manages the tax filings for all members. The report does not create a joint tax filing (individual tax returns remain separate) but provides a single document from which the preparer can extract the figures required for each family member’s return.

Privacy between family members

The family declaration provides the declarant with a view of all linked accounts’ portfolios and P&L. This visibility is unidirectional by default in the primary configuration: the declarant sees all linked accounts, but linked members see only their own account (and the family aggregate if they have been designated as a co-viewer). Zerodha’s Console settings allow some control over the direction of visibility within the family group, though the specifics of these settings may vary with platform updates.

Given that the linkage requires mutual consent, the privacy implications are understood and accepted by all parties at the time of linking. A family member who subsequently wishes to remove themselves from the family group can revoke the linkage through Console.

Operational independence

It is important to note that the family declaration is a reporting and display feature only. No operational capabilities are shared between linked accounts:

• Orders can only be placed by the account holder for that account.
• Funds in one linked account cannot be used to meet margin requirements in another linked account.
• Securities in one linked account cannot be pledged for margin purposes in another linked account.
• The settlement of trades in each account is independent.

The regulatory basis for this operational independence is the individual account structure mandated by SEBI, CDSL, and NSDL regulations. Family members who want to trade on behalf of each other must use the formal authorised person or power of attorney mechanisms, which are separate regulatory constructs with their own requirements.

Setting up the family declaration

The family declaration is managed through Console’s account settings section. The steps involve:

1. The declarant initiates a family link request, entering the Zerodha client IDs of the family members to be linked.
2. Each named family member receives a notification and confirmation request in their own Console account.
3. After each member confirms, the link is established.
4. The aggregated view becomes available in the declarant’s Console account.

Changes to the family group (adding or removing members) follow the same consent-based process.

Use cases

The family declaration is most useful in the following situations:

• A parent managing investment decisions for the entire family, where each family member has their own account for regulatory and tax reasons.
• A couple with separate accounts wanting a combined view of household assets without the complexity of managing two console logins.
• A financial planner (who is also a Zerodha account holder) managing their own account and wanting to coordinate with family members who also use Zerodha.

The feature has limited value for families where each member independently manages their own account and has no interest in consolidated reporting.

References

• Zerodha Console Help Documentation, “Family declaration feature,” support.zerodha.com.
• Zerodha Z-Connect Blog, “Managing family accounts on Console,” Zerodha.com.
• SEBI regulations on demat account ownership (individual account requirement).
• Income Tax Act 1961, relevant provisions on capital gains taxation for individual assessees.