Parliament to take up DTC Bill in monsoon session: FinMin

The Direct Taxes Code (DTC) Bill, which seeks to overhaul the 50-year-old income tax laws, will be brought in Parliament in the monsoon session, Finance Secretary R S Gujral said today.

"We will also examine the recommendation of Parliamentary Standing Committee (PSC) and after that we will circulate a cabinet note," he told reporters here.

The DTC Bill will have far reaching consequences on the income tax laws in the country as it replaces the Income Tax Act, 1961.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on DTC, headed by senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha, in its report had given a number of recommendations, including raising income tax exemption limit to Rs 3 lakh from Rs 1.8 lakh now.

Other recommendations of the panel include hiking the investment limit for tax savings schemes to Rs 3.20 lakh and pegging wealth tax limit at Rs 5 crore.

It also recommended abolition of the Securities Transaction Tax (STT). As regards the corporate tax, it, recommended that the rate be retained at 30 per cent.