An internal committee of the Income Tax Department will review the 1961 direct tax law to eliminate redundant clauses as well as adopt best global practices to simplify it for taxpayers for better compliance, CBDT chief Ravi Agrawal has said. The panel, comprising income tax (IT) officials from across the country, has started working to identify areas of improvement in the Income Tax Act, 1961, he said and added that the exercise is being conducted under a central government-mandated comprehensive review of the law. Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) chairman Agrawal said the committee is looking at the best global practices that can be adopted as well as cutting redundancies in the existing law and finding those clauses that have reached their sunset, and hence, can be eliminated. "An internal committee of competent officers of the department from all across the country has been formed. They have started working to identify areas of improvement. This is a work in progress...," he
In a conversation, the chief of the direct tax apex body said that extension of the 15 per cent concessional rate depend on how the companies utilising the benefit
The budget announcement about a comprehensive review of the Income Tax Act, 1961, is an attempt to make the "bulky" law "simpler" to understand and comfortable to use for taxpayers along with aligning new technology processes with it, CBDT Chairman Ravi Agrawal has said. The Act that started its journey in 1922 contains 298 sections, 23 chapters and other provisions in its current form of 1961. Speaking to PTI during a post-budget interview on Wednesday, Agrawal said the Act has seen "redundancies" over a period of time making it "thick and bulky." "The taxpayers also feel that the Act is not so simple, as it ought to be...it is cumbersome...so the attempt is if we can make this Act simpler, simpler to comprehend, simpler in terms of language, simpler in terms of presentation, then that hitch of the taxpayer to actually not see the Act and take the help of a tax practitioner or someone (maybe eased)..." "We are working towards how can we make it (Income Tax Act) simple so that the
The 'Vivad se Vishwas' scheme announced in the Budget for settlement of pending direct tax appeals will be launched this year and its notification apart from relevant FAQs would be issued soon, CBDT chairman Ravi Agrawal said Wednesday. Speaking to PTI during a post-Budget interview, the head of the direct taxes administration in the country said that a "substantial" number of income tax appeals are logged at the appellate stage in different forums and it is expected that a "reasonable" number of taxpayers will avail the new scheme. The first 'Vivad se Vishwas' scheme for cases under the direct taxes or income tax category was brought out by the government in 2020 and, according to the CBDT chief, it was "quite successful" with about Rs 75,000 crore revenue being garnered and about a lakh taxpayers availing the scheme. "The first date is (going to be) 31st of December by when we the taxpayer is supposed to actually opt for the scheme (Vivad se Vishwas 2024). Very soon, we will notif
With the changes, the funds can now enjoy exemption from tax on dividend income, interest income, or long-term capital gains tax arising from investments made in India
The income tax department will "erase" petty tax demands pending against about 80 lakh taxpayers on its own and issue a "speaking order" explaining the process to be followed, CBDT chairman Nitin Gupta said Friday, a day after the measure was proposed in the interim Budget. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had on Thursday declared the government's proposal to withdraw outstanding direct tax demands up to Rs 25,000 till 2009-10 fiscal and up to Rs 10,000 for financial years 2010-11 to 2014-15. This was being done, she said, as part of an effort to improve ease of living and ease of doing business for citizens. The finance minister added that there were "a large number" of petty, non-verified, non-reconciled or disputed direct tax demands, many of them dating as far back as the year 1962, which continue to remain on the books, causing anxiety to honest taxpayers and hindering refunds of subsequent years. "We will erase these demands, we will extinguish such a demand from the
The income tax department has garnered about Rs 4,600 crore in taxes from 56 lakh updated I-T returns filed by taxpayers in the past two years, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) chief Nitin Gupta said. In a post budget interview to PTI TV, Gupta also said the I-T department has set up a demand management centre at Mysuru, Karnataka, which is focusing on disputed pending large tax demands of above Rs 1 crore. "We are continuously improving the services and creating litigation free environment. We have come out with a facility for updation of return. 56 lakh updated returns updated and garnered around Rs 4,600 crore taxes from that," Gupta said. The Interim Budget 2024-25 has announced withdrawal of outstanding small tax demands, some even dating back to 1962, of up to Rs 25,000 till 2014-15 in respect of income, wealth and gift taxes. There are about 1.11 crore such disputed demand entries and the aggregate tax demand involved is Rs 3,500-3,600 crore. Gupta said the move would ..
Corporation tax grows moderately, growth in GST collections decelerates but the new normal is above Rs 1.55 trillion a month now
CBDT stated that the tax department's efforts to deliver seamless and expedited taxpayer services are being continuously strengthened
More than four crore income tax returns (ITRs) have been filed so far for fiscal 2022-23 and more than half of them have been processed leading to issuance of 80 lakh refunds, CBDT chairperson Nitin Gupta said on Monday. Gupta also said that the "shortage of manpower (in the department) at every level was impeding our efforts to give even better results" as he urged the Union finance minister for a "quick approval" of the department's cadre restructuring proposal. He was speaking at an event held here to mark the 164th Income Tax Day. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) is the administrative authority for the I-T department. Gupta said the direct tax collection, that includes personal income tax and corporate tax among others, has been making "remarkable" strides as the department collected more than Rs 16.61 lakh crore in taxes during 2022-23 fiscal and this was 17.67 per cent higher as compared to the preceding year. This collection "surpassed" both the budget and revised .
Average time taken for issuing refunds by the income tax department has been brought down "significantly" and 80 per cent of refunds were issued in the first 30 days of filing of returns during the 2022-23 fiscal, CBDT Chairman Nitin Gupta has said. The chief of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said the work of processing Income Tax Returns (ITRs) has been "expedited" as the tax department is leveraging technology in a big way and was working to ensure 'ease of doing business' for the taxpayers by promoting voluntary compliance. "We have expedited the processing of returns and quicker issue of refunds. The average time taken for processing of returns has been reduced to only 16 days in the financial year 2022-23 as against 26 days in the previous 2021-22 fiscal," Gupta said. "We have seen a hundred per cent increase in the total percentage of ITRs processed within one day of their filing. This percentage has increased from 21 per cent for assessment year (AY) 2021-22 to 42 p
The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), the top direct tax body, has directed the officers concerned to initiate verification and send notices to those behind these transactions on March 28
About 48 crore individual Permanent Account Numbers (PANs), out of the total 61 crore issued till now, have been linked with Aadhaar till date and those who do not link it by the declared deadline of March 31 will not get benefits while undertaking various business and tax-related activities, CBDT Chairperson Nitin Gupta said. The government has made the linkage of the two databases mandatory and declared that those individual PANs that are not attached to the Aadhaar by the end of this financial year (March 31, 2023) will be rendered inoperative. A fee of Rs 1,000 will be payable for those who want to link their PAN and Aadhaar between now and March 31. "There are about 61 crore individual PANs issued till now and out of this, around 48 crore have been seeded with Aadhaar. The difference is around 13 crore now, including the exempt category, and we hope the rest will also be linked by the end date," Gupta told PTI in a post-Budget interview. We have undertaken a number of public .
CBDT chief says there's no reason to provide differential treatment for filing I-T returns
The benefit of the revamped I-T regime will percolate down to every section of the taxpayer and the government expects a 'fabulous' response to it, a top Income Tax official said on Friday. The 2023-24 Budget has proposed changes to the new optional tax regime which provides that no tax would be levied on annual income of up to Rs 7 lakh. It also allowed taxpayers to claim standard deduction of Rs 50,000 -- a move seen as a push for the salaried class to switch to the new tax regime where no exemptions on investments are provided. "The benefit percolates down to every section of taxpayer.... Considering that standard deduction will be available to salaried taxpayers in the new regime, effectively a salaried employee with an income of Rs 7.50 lakh would not be required to pay any tax," Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) Chairman Nitin Gupta said. In addition to extending the standard deduction, the Budget has also raised the exemption limit and tweaked the tax rates to make the ne
Gupta added that if the trend continues, direct tax collections for FY23 could exceed the budget target of Rs 14.20 trillion
Prompt redressal of taxpayers' grievances remains the top priority for the tax department, the newly appointed chairman of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) Nitin Gupta said on Sunday
IRS officer Nitin Gupta has been appointed as the new CBDT chairman, a recent government order said
Talking to PTI, Singh said the number of income tax returns last fiscal was 7.14 crore against 6.9 crore in the preceding financial year, showing a clear growth.
Singh will take charge on Monday.