New Delhi: Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday announced no change in the existing tax regime — both direct and indirect. For taxpayers, there will be no relief as income tax rates and slabs remain the same in the interim budget that Nirmala Sitharaman presented ahead of the Lok Sabha election 2024. “I propose to retain the same tax rates for direct and indirect taxes including import duties,” the finance minister said.
Since this is an interim budget – one that is the tradition in every election year – the budget stayed away from effecting any major changes.
“Over the last ten years, the direct tax collections have more than trebled and the return filers swelled to 2.4 times. I would like to assure the taxpayers that their contributions have been used wisely for the development of the country and welfare of its people. I appreciate the tax payers for their support,” Sitharaman said. “The Government has reduced and rationalized tax rates. Under the new tax scheme, there is now no tax liability for tax payers with income up to ₹ 7 lakh, up from ₹ 2.2 lakh in the financial year 2013-14. The threshold for presumptive taxation for retail businesses was increased from ₹ 2 crore to ₹ 3 crore. Similarly, the threshold for professionals eligible for presumptive taxation was increased from ₹ 50 lakh to ₹ 75 Lakh. Also, corporate tax rate was decreased from 30 per cent to 22 per cent for existing domestic companies and to 15 per cent for certain new manufacturing companies,” Sitharaman added.
“In the last five years, our focus has been to improve tax-payer services. The age-old jurisdiction-based assessment system was transformed with the introduction of Faceless Assessment and Appeal, thereby imparting greater efficiency, transparency and accountability. Introduction of updated income tax returns, a new Form 26AS and prefilling of tax returns have 26 made filing of tax returns simpler and easier. Average processing time of returns has been reduced from 93 days in the year 2013-14 to a mere ten days this year, thereby making refunds faster,” she said.
“As for tax proposals, in keeping with the convention, I do not propose to make any changes relating to taxation and propose to retain the same tax rates for direct taxes and indirect taxes including import duties. However, certain tax benefits to start-ups and investments made by sovereign wealth or pension funds as also tax exemption on certain income of some IFSC units are expiring on 31.03.2024. To provide continuity in taxation, I propose to extend the date.
“Moreover, in line with our Government’s vision to improve ease of living and ease of doing business, I wish to make an announcement to improve tax payer services. There are a large number of petty, non-verified, non-reconciled or disputed direct tax demands, many of them dating as far back as the year 1962, which continue to remain on the books, causing anxiety to honest taxpayers and hindering refunds of subsequent years. I propose to withdraw such outstanding direct tax demands up to twenty-five thousand rupees ( ₹ 25,000) pertaining to the period up to financial year 2009-10 and up to ten-thousand rupees ( ₹ 10,000) for financial years 2010-11 to 2014-15. This is expected to benefit about a crore tax-payers,” the minister said.
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