Paraphrasing Abraham Lincoln, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday described the Union Budget as "by the people, for the people, of the people", and said Prime Minister Narendra Modi was fully behind the idea to cut taxes for the middle class but it took time to convince the bureaucrats. "We have heard the voice of the middle class" who had been complaining about their aspirations not being met despite being honest taxpayers, she told PTI in an interview.
In his first communication to the field formations of the income tax department after taking over, the new CBDT chairman Sushil Chandra has spelled out a seven-point priority list for the department, entrusted to enforce direct tax laws in the country.
The number of people who file tax returns has also increased by about 65 per cent during this period from 3.31 crore in FY 2013-14 to 5.44 crore in 2017-18 fiscal, the CBDT said in the statement.
The direct tax collections are likely to fall short of the revised Budget target by Rs 650 billion and, in fact, were Rs 150 billion lower than the original estimate for the fiscal
Tax returns of 100,000 entities under scanner, as preparation for DTC, say officials.
The BJP received the highest amount in large donations among national parties in the financial year 2023-24, with over Rs 2,243 crore declared from 8,358 donations, according to a report by poll rights body the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR). The report, based on data submitted to the Election Commission, highlighted trends in political donations above Rs 20,000. The total declared donations to national parties stood at Rs 2,544.28 crore from 12,547 contributions - a sharp 199 per cent increase compared to the previous year.
The Budget announcement of taxing 'virtual digital assets' or crypto currencies will help the income-tax department measure the "depth" of this trade in the country, know the investors and the nature of their investments and it does not "attach any legality" to these transactions, Central Board of Direct Taxes chairman J B Mohapatra said.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said she is likely to introduce the new income tax bill, which will replace the six-decade-old I-T Act, in the Lok Sabha in the coming week.
Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on Tuesday said the Central Board of Direct Taxes is inquiring into alleged leak of tapes of telephone conversations between corporate lobbyist Niira Radia and politicians, journalists and industrialists.
The government has now made quoting of Aadhaar mandatory for filing income tax returns as well as obtaining a new PAN.
I-T said that the Supreme Court on Friday had only given a "partial relief" to those who do not have an Aadhaar.
Agencies to help get data on assets of taxpayers.
'If our Budget allows, we may implement both measures -- making income up to Rs 10 lakh tax-free and introducing a 25 per cent slab for income between Rs 15 lakh and Rs 20 lakh.'
The Central Board of Direct Taxes, the apex policy making body of the I-T department, issued the fresh directives after it recently got a number of complaints from taxpayers and others in this regard.
Chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), Prakash Chandra, has asked the income tax (I-T) department to hasten court and tribunal proceedings to meet tax collection targets in the coming quarters.
Any bank account suspected to have been "misused" for money laundering or shell company operations won't be exempted from probe under 'Operation Clean Money' despite having low deposits, the CBDT said on Tuesday.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, in his Budget speech on Monday, announced a new dispute resolution mechanism for such companies who are in confrontation with the taxman's action.
Even though option to invest as a company is available, many FPIs have chosen trust route to enjoy less tax or zero tax through tax havens such as the Cayman Islands and Luxembourg.
'Going forward, the encouragement would be to move to the new tax regime.'
By setting up Central Technical Committee, the Central Board of Direct Taxes aims to bring clarity on contentious legal issues and reduce litigation by adopting a consistent approach on them.
The CBDT has initiated a major exercise for issuing refunds and has also written a number of letters to field offices to expedite the process.
Net direct tax collection grew 19.54 per cent to over Rs 5.74 lakh crore so far this fiscal on higher advance tax payment by corporate. The first instalment of advance tax, which was due on June 15, rose 27.34 per cent to Rs 1.48 lakh crore. This includes Corporation Income Tax (CIT) at Rs 1.14 lakh crore and Personal Income Tax (PIT) at Rs 34,470 crore.
Taxpayers with old, outstanding taxes will benefit from the CBDT's new scheme.
CBDT circular issued last month had raised multiple taxation concerns.
The department had sent SMSes and emails to 18 lakh people who made suspicious deposits of over Rs 500,000 during the 50-day demonetisation period.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes, the apex policy making body of the I-T department, has been undertaking a host of steps to bolster the litigation management wing of the department which has come under criticism not only from courts but also successive Finance Ministers and in the audit reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General.
The economic growth slowed to 6.9 per cent in the second quarter against 8.4 per cent in the same period last year.
Net direct tax collection grew 21 per cent to over Rs 4.62 lakh crore so far this fiscal, on higher advance tax payment by corporates.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes is developing a data bank on tax returns and expenditure by tax payers to improve the quality of assessments and revenues, which could lead to reduction in raids, P L Singh, chairman, CBDT, said in Mumbai.
"Delays, if any, in issuance of PAN cards take place usually due to incomplete documentation by applicants," Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) spokesman Shishir Jha said reacting to a story which appeared in a Delhi newspaper that suggested such decline in FII investments was due to delays in issuing PAN cards.
The net direct tax collection so far this fiscal rose 19.41 per cent to Rs 14.70 lakh crore, reaching about 81 per cent of the full-year target, the income tax department said on Thursday. "The provisional figures of Direct Tax collections up to January 10, 2024, continue to register steady growth," the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said in a statement. Direct Tax collection, net of refunds, stood at Rs 14.70 lakh crore which is 19.41 per cent higher than the net collection for the corresponding period of last year.
Personal income tax as a percentage of GDP has gone up from 2.11 per cent in 2014-15 to 2.94 per cent in 2021-22 fiscal, indicating that taxpayer base is widening as a result of the steps taken by the present government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Direct tax collection, net of refunds, moderately exceeded the revised estimates (RE) for the financial year 2023-24 (FY24) on the back of personal income tax revenues, but corporation tax receipts fell short of the RE. Net direct tax collection stood at Rs 19.58 trillion in FY24, surpassing the RE of Rs 19.45 trillion by Rs 13,000 crore, or 0.7 per cent. The government had revised up FY24 projections for personal income tax by 13.5 per cent over the Budget estimates (BE) of Rs 9 trillion, at Rs 10.22 trillion.
British broadcaster BBC has communicated to the income-tax department that some of its past income, for its operations in India, could have gone unreported during the statutory filing of returns and hence it would like to amend it, official sources said on Wednesday.
The income tax department has allowed non-resident taxpayers not having PAN to file Form 10F manually till March 31, 2023, a move which would ease their compliance burden and enable them to claim lower TDS rate. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) had in July made it mandatory for non-resident taxpayers to file Form 10F electronically to claim benefit of lower Tax Deducted at Source (TDS). However, taxpayers faced problems in electronic filing of the form as the income tax portal did not allow a taxpayer who does not have a Permanent Account Number (PAN) to file Form 10F.
The income tax department has also launched a faceless e-assessment scheme to eliminate interface between an assessing officer and a taxpayer.
The income tax department has notified rules for valuation of equity and compulsorily convertible preferable shares issued by startups to resident and non-resident investors. As per the changes in Rule 11UA of I-T rules, which comes into effect from September 25, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) provides that the valuation of compulsorily convertible preference shares (CCPS) can also be based on the fair market value of unquoted equity shares. The amended rules also retain the five new valuation methods proposed in the draft rules for consideration received from the non-residents viz., (i) Comparable Company Multiple Method, (ii) Probability Weighted Expected Return Method, (iii) Option Pricing Method, (iv) Milestone Analysis Method, and (v) Replacement Cost Method.
The central government's fiscal deficit during 2023-24 at 5.6 per cent of the GDP was better than previous estimates of 5.8 per cent on account of higher revenue realisation and lower expenditure, according to official data released on Friday. In actual terms, the fiscal deficit -- or gap between expenditure and revenue -- was Rs 16.53 lakh crore, or 5.63 per cent of the GDP, which grew 8.2 per cent in 2023-24.
The assessee will also have to declare whether such items and their value were disclosed at the time of filing wealth tax returns earlier.
