Govt to reduce time for revising tax return to 12 months

FM also proposed to reduce time for completion of scrutiny assessments from 21 months to 18 months

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday proposed to reduce the time period for revising a tax return to 12 months from completion of the financial year.

The minister also proposed to reduce the time for completion of scrutiny assessments from 21 months to 18 months for Assessment Year 2018-19 and further to 12 months for Assessment Year 2019-20 and thereafter.

"Time period for revising a tax return is being reduced to 12 months from completion of the financial year, at par with the time period for filing of return," according to Union Budget 2017-18 presented by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in Parliament.

In order to expand tax net, the Centre plans to have a simple one-page form to be filed as Income Tax Return for the category of individuals having taxable income up to Rs 5 lakh other than business income.

Also, a person of this category who files income tax return for the first time would not be subjected to any scrutiny in the first year unless there is specific information available with the department regarding his high-value transaction, Jaitley said.