Jaitley unveils string of measures towards Ease of Doing Business

While presenting the Union Budget 2017-18 today, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced a slew of reliefs in the govt's continuing policy towards the betterment of Ease of Doing Business.

Jaitley raised the threshold limit for audit of business entities that opt for presumptive income scheme from Rs. one crore to Rs. two crore.

The minister also maintained the books for individuals and HUF to be increased from turnover of Rs. 10 lakhs to Rs. 25 lakhs or income from Rs. 1.2 lakhs to Rs. 2.5 lakhs.

Further to this, he announced an exemption from indirect transfer provision under the IT Act in the Foreign Portfolio Investor (FPI) Category I and II.

Besides, indirect transfer provision shall not apply in case of redemption of shares or interests outside India as a result of or arising out of redemption or sale of investment in India which is chargeable to tax in India.

This will remove apprehensions over taxation upon transfer of stake of investors of India-based funds located abroad but investing in India-based companies, he added.

Bringing relief to individual insurance agents, Jaitley said they will be exempted from the TDS provision of five percent being deducted from commission payable after filing a self-declaration that their income is below taxable limit.

Professionals with receipt up to Rs. 50 lakhs per annum can pay advance tax towards presumptive taxation in one installment instead of four.

He also proposed to restrict the scope of domestic transfer pricing only if one of the entities involved in related party transaction enjoys specified profit-linked deduction.

It will reduce the compliance burden for domestic companies since the number of entities being covered under domestic pricing had gone up substantially resulting in longer scrutiny.