NITI Aayog has not said what the reasons were for having achieved or not having achieved what was sought to be achieved, or what lessons can be learned for the future, points out Aakar Patel.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday said the government has made the new income tax regime more attractive for taxpayers and has thus brought about 'substantial changes' in its structure for the benefit of the middle class. The Budget 2023-24 has proposed changes in the optional tax regime, which was introduced in 2020-21. Speaking to reporters after presentation of the Budget, Sitharaman said the country has been waiting for a direct tax regime which is simplified and easy in compliance.
The Centre has taken a major step towards increasing efficiency in decision-making by empowering joint secretaries to report to secretaries directly, officials said on Wednesday.
Justices Rajesh Bindal and Aravind Kumar were administered oath during a swearing-in ceremony held in the Supreme Court premises.
Authorities will allow the country's taxpayers to access the mutual agreement procedure (MAP) for cross-border disputes. This is even if they had settled the case under the direct tax dispute resolution scheme - Vivad se Vishwas - without deviating from the outcome of the scheme, said the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) on Monday. However, non-resident taxpayers, who opted for the resolution scheme, cannot go for MAP on the same issue, it clarified. MAP is an alternative dispute resolution mechanism under the tax treaties where competent authorities of two countries enter into discussions to resolve tax-related disputes.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will keep on the path of fiscal consolidation and opt for narrowing the FY24 fiscal deficit to as low as 5.8 per cent in the upcoming Budget, analysts said on Tuesday. The government may go for a fiscal deficit number which will be far lower than the 6.4 per cent of GDP budgeted for FY23, they said, pegging the Budget figure for the next fiscal in the range of 5.8 - 6 per cent. Given the fact that this will be the last full Budget of the present government, there may be a temptation to make it into an expansionist one.
The finance ministry on Friday said advance tax collection increased by 53.50 per cent to Rs 4.60 lakh crore so far this fiscal year, indicating recovery in the economy. Direct tax collections for 2021-22, as on December 16, show that net collections are at Rs 9.45 lakh crore compared to Rs 5.88 lakh crore over the year-ago period, representing an increase of 60.8 per cent, the ministry said in a statement. "The net collection (as on December 16) in FY22 has registered a growth of 40 per cent over the corresponding period of previous year when the net collection was Rs 6,75,409.5 crore, and a growth of 40.93 per cent over the corresponding period of 2018-19 when the net collection was Rs 6,70,739.1 crore," it said.
The Centre received 5.59 lakh public grievances against various government departments in the first half of this year, with the Department of Financial Services (DFS) getting most of such complaints, according to an official report.
Taxing the rich will fetch nothing; only votes, argues Debashis Basu.
Ahead of the first due date of advance tax payment on June 15, the government is likely to release guidelines on what will be covered within the ambit of virtual digital assets (VDA). To remove any ambiguity in the recently established tax framework for asset holders, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) is currently preparing guidelines, said government officials in the know. The apex direct tax body will define non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and whether or not they fall within the purview of VDA.
Crypto exchanges have been asked to furnish details this month itself.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has proposed a new common income-tax return (ITR), with greater focus on disclosing income from virtual digital assets or crypto assets and foreign equity and debt instruments held by resident Indians. For non-resident Indians, the draft ITR seeks exhaustive details ranging from nature of business, permanent establishment (PE), business connection, whether the entity has significant economic presence (SEP) in India, along with the number of users in India. The ITR protocol for NRIs could widen the scope of the SEP principle that was introduced in the Finance Bill 2018-19, and the explicitly defined 'business connection' to include provision of download of data or software, if aggregate payments from such transactions exceed a prescribed amount, or if a multinational's interaction is with a prescribed number of users.
Widening of the tax base, doing away with cess and surcharge, improvement in compliance and moderation in tax for emerging sectors are some of the suggestions submitted to the Finance Ministry ahead of the Budget by Think Change Forum (TCF). Experts are of the opinion that there is a need to grow tax revenues for the government to drive economic growth and make investments in developmental activities, TCF, the think tank said in a statement. Towards this end, poor compliance was identified as a weak link in achieving targeted collections leading to complex issues like overtaxing, complicated tax structures, rising litigation, among others.
The income and profits shown by various BBC group entities are "not commensurate" with the scale of their operations in India and tax has not been paid on certain remittances by its foreign entities, the income tax authorities said Friday, a day after they ended a three-day-long survey operation against the British media organisation.
Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC) of India has urged the Centre to extend lower corporate tax benefit to Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs) and proprietary firms as it would make funds available with MSMEs and boost private investment cycle. A body of direct tax professionals also sought for reduction of tax burden on individuals and requested the government to raise the income tax exemption limit at Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 4 lakh per annum in the upcoming budget for 2022-23 fiscal. EEPC India chairman Mahesh Desai claimed around 84 per cent of small businesses are being denied the benefit of lower corporate tax which was aimed at providing industrial units with more investible surplus.
The claims were made after the Income Tax department had on July 6 raided 36 premises of the Bengaluru-based Micro Labs Ltd. across nine states.
Senior tax officials were told to focus on cash collection from the arrears so that the target for FY23 was achieved and the overall revenue position improved.
Cautioning public against falling prey to fraudulent job offers, the Income Tax Department on Tuesday said aspirants should only consider offers or advertisements on official websites of SSC or the department. "Income Tax Department cautions the public not to fall prey to fraudulent persons misleading job-aspirants by issuing fake appointment letters for joining the Department," the I-T department tweeted.
'It may be prudent not to plunge into a new online tax appeals system in one go, which could only create more disputes and increase the embarrassingly high tax arrears of the government,' warns A K Bhattacharya.
Amid economic uncertainties owing to the pandemic, the government's key revenue agency, the Income Tax Department, has close to 400 vacancies at commissioner level and above, affecting its functioning. Seventy-three of the 91 chief commissioner positions are lying vacant, with some for more than a year. Chief commissioner is the second-highest post in the department, below principal chief commissioner, which is at par with secretary in a ministry.
The grievances of as many as 2,500-3,000 taxpayers could be addressed and resolved between October 2 and October 31. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has asked tax officials to dispose of at least 20 per cent of the pending matters during the period. The move comes after Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman recently nudged the income-tax (I-T) department to redress the grievances promptly.
It is now becoming increasingly clear that rising imports have played a significant role in sustaining the buoyancy in revenues from GST, notes A K Bhattacharya.
Policymakers are examining the possibility of increasing the tax-free slab to Rs 5 lakh in the two-year-old alternative personal income tax regime to make it attractive, a government official said. At present, taxpayers don't pay income tax if their taxable income is Rs 2.5 lakh and below. Increasing the threshold will reduce the tax outgo for assessees, thereby leaving more money with them to invest, the official said.
According to the latest Budget papers, the staff strength of central ministries and departments is estimated to rise by 276,796 to 3.44 million at the end of FY23, it would be up by 109,266 to 3.55 million in March 2024.
'Many non-resident taxpayers faced issues in filing Form 10F since the portal didn't allow those who didn't have PAN to file the form.'
The government on Tuesday extended for the third time the deadline for making payment under the direct tax dispute settlement scheme 'Vivad Se Vishwas' by three months to March 31, 2021. As per a Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) notification, declaration under the Vivad se Vishwas Scheme shall be required to be furnished latest by December 31, 2020. However, only in respect of the said declarations made, the payment without additional amount can now be made up to March 31, 2021.
The government wants new domestic companies to set up their manufacturing units fast and hence the concessional tax rate of 15 per cent has been extended by a year till March 2024, revenue secretary Tarun Bajaj said on Friday. Stating that direct and indirect tax collections are going up and have good buoyancy, Bajaj said it means that the corporate sector is also doing well, and India's tax to GDP ratio could be "highest ever" in the current year. The Budget 2022-23 presented on February 1 has proposed that the concessional 15 per cent corporate tax rate would be available for one more year till March 2024 for newly incorporated manufacturing units.
The income-tax department has detected "unaccounted" transactions and investments worth more than Rs 100 crore after it raided two Jharkhand Congress MLAs, their alleged associates and linked coal and iron ore businesses across the state last week.
Ahead of the second instalment of advance tax, the revenue department is scrutinising entities that have registered negative growth in their tax deducted at source (TDS) payments, even when they reported healthy advance tax payments. According to sources, taxmen have observed a mismatch in TDS payments from at least 60-65 small to mid-sized companies. Officials said it is unusual for TDS to not increase, given the improved turnover and profits - if higher advance tax payments are any indication.
The government on Friday extended by six months till March 2022 the deadline to link PAN with biometric ID Aadhaar. In a statement, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said to address the hardship being faced by various stakeholders on account of the COVID-19 pandemic, the timeline has been extended which will ease compliance.
The new income tax regime for filing returns has been "sweetened" in the Budget 2023-24 and it will be beneficial for maximum number of taxpayers as they can enjoy a "reduced" tax rate, CBDT chairman Nitin Gupta said. Speaking to PTI during a post-Budget interview, Gupta said the intent of the government while announcing the new slabs and rates under the new tax regime is to gradually "do away with deductions and exemptions" so that the "long-standing demand of reduction of taxes for individual taxpayers and entities can be met." Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, while presenting the Budget 2023-24 in the Parliament on Wednesday, said the government has made the new income tax regime more attractive for taxpayers and has thus brought about 'substantial changes' in its structure for the benefit of the middle class.
India's tax pie seems to have undergone a subtle change with a sharp drop in direct tax collections resulting from a disproportionate impact of the COVID-19 carnage on incomes. The share of indirect taxes, which mainly comprise of levy on goods and services as well as import duty, has risen while that of direct taxes - made up of corporate and personal income tax - has gone down in 2020. In an interview with PTI, finance secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey said in a pandemic like this where the economy has been impacted, any large scale changes impact direct taxes more severely, whereas indirect tax collection is mostly proportional to business turnover and compliance.
'Given the worries about sluggish growth, rising interest rates and likely volatility, it's quite logical to infer that the SIP route could be the preferred way of investing.'
The income tax department said it has received representations from taxpayers that the last date for intimating the Aadhaar number may further be extended in the wake of the on-going COVID-19 pandemic.
The income tax department on Wednesday conducted raids in multiple states as part of a pan-India tax evasion probe against certain registered unrecognised political parties (RUPP) and their alleged dubious financial transactions, official sources said.
The Centre is considering a gradual phasing out of certain direct tax exemptions meant for corporate and personal tax payers. This is among the tax proposals being discussed for the upcoming Union Budget 2022-23. A top policymaker said that according to the government's internal assessment, the percentage of corporates and individuals shifting to the new exemption-less tax regime has been very encouraging, and the Budget-makers expect many more to make the switch in the coming years. The person also said the finance ministry is exploring the option of rationalising the capital gains tax rates.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has issued detailed guidelines on facilitating tax deducted at source (TDS) on virtual digital assets (VDA) or crypto assets, under which date of transfer and mode of payment will have to be specified. From July 1, TDS of 1 per cent will be levied on payments towards virtual digital assets or cryptocurrencies beyond Rs 10,000 in a year, as the Finance Act 2022 has introduced Section 194S in the income tax (I-T) Act. The department has explained different scenarios through six questions to remove difficulties.
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Exporters on Thursday demanded fiscal incentives, tweaking in customs duties on certain products and credit at affordable rates in the forthcoming Budget to boost exports and create jobs. In a pre-budget virtual meeting with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) said the depreciation of the rupee against the US dollar is affecting exports' competitiveness and the sector requires more support. "Creation of employment is the biggest challenge faced by the country...We would urge the government to provide fiscal support to units which provide additional employment in the export sector," the exporter's body said.
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