First draft of revised direct tax code in 6 months: Revenue secretary

The Centre is working on a comprehensive review of the Direct Tax Code, which will be prepared by the internal committee and then shared for stakeholder consultation within the next six months, Sanjay Malhotra, Secretary Revenue, Ministry of Finance, said on Thursday.

"We will have a consultation process, and how it will happen, we will decide. We would like to have a collaborative approach for implementation," he said at an event organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci).

Malhotra said that the exercise is not linked to bringing a new Direct Tax Code, but a comprehensive review of the income tax law.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her Budget on Tuesday announced that the Centre would undertake a comprehensive review of the Income-tax Act, 1961.

"The purpose is to make the Act concise, lucid, easy to read and understand. This will reduce disputes and litigation, thereby providing tax certainty to the taxpayers. It will also bring down the demand embroiled in litigation," Sitharaman said.

She also said that the Centre would come out with a standard operating procedure for defaults in the Tax Deducted at Source and simplify and rationalise the compounding of such offences.

Malhotra on Thursday said that the efforts of the Centre would be to provide a "hassle-free, simple," and collaborative approach towards the implementation of taxes.

"Our approach towards taxation has always been and will continue to be in the mode of collaboration and not confrontation. The purpose of our proposals, both on the policy side as well as on the implementation side, is to collect taxes from wherever they are due but do it in a manner that gives respect and trust to the taxpayers and collects them in a smooth and hassle-free manner," he said.

He also said that the whole effort of the Budget was to make tax processes simpler.