Govt removes tweet on bringing hotel bills of over Rs 20K under I-T scanner

The government has withdrawn a controversial tweet which talked about a proposal to bring certain transactions such as Rs 20,000 spent on hotels under the income tax scanner.
 

The tweet was put up by mygovindia, a platform founded by the government to promote the active participation of citizens in their country's governance and development, on Thursday. However, on Friday, it said the tweet is unavailable.
 

The tweet had stirred a controversy as it came on the day Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled taxpayes' charter and expanded faceless assessment to the entire country.

According to the tweet put up on Thursday, the government proposed to include life insurance premium above Rs 50,000, health insurance premium over Rs 20,000, foreign travel, education-related fees, and donations above Rs 100,000 in a year in the list of Statement of Financial Transactions (SFT). Other transactions proposed to be included are purchase of white goods, jewellery and paintings over Rs 100,000, and demat accounts and bank lockers.
 

Finance ministry sources said the ministry had not put up the tweet.