Page 8 - Taxation

Existing taxation structure for corporates very reasonable: Revenue secy

The existing taxation structure for corporates with a 22 per cent tax is "very reasonable" when compared to an economy of the size of India and hence the concessional tax regime which was in force for four years for new manufacturing units was not extended beyond March 2024, Revenue Secretary Sanjay Malhotra said. In an interview with PTI, Malhotra said the Interim Budget 2024-25 provides for continuity in taxation regime and the benefits given to taxpayers in the last years are showing results in the form of huge buoyancy in personal income tax. "Taxpayer services have been a major focus of the government and this will continue going forward. Taxpayer services includes rationalisation, simplification and trust-based taxation with less scrutiny and more pinpointed assessments and use of technology. We are hopeful taxpayer services will continue to improve helping us in compliance and improving tax collection efficiency," Malhotra said. To a question on why the concessional tax regim

How to make tax return scrutiny less stressful

Tax officials must be required to go through responses submitted by the taxpayer quickly and ask follow-up questions within a fixed time limit

Budget expectations: Income tax benefits, support to women entrepreneurs

An increase in income tax exemption limits, support to women entrepreneurs, a long-term taxation policy and steps to boost consumption and savings are among the expectations of experts from the interim budget which will be presented by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on February 1 ahead of Lok Sabha elections. They also demand for parity in taxation among companies, partnerships and limited liability partnerships. "This is going to be an interim budget but at least there may be some indications of full-budget benefits. There may be some concession to be offered to individual taxpayers under section 87A under which the overall tax exemption limit may be increased to Rs 8 lakh from now Rs 7 lakh, inclusive of rebates," All India Federation of Tax Practitioners national president Narayan Jain said. Bharat Chamber of Commerce president N G Khaitan said there is a need for a long-term taxation policy and parity in taxation among companies, partnerships and limited liability ...

Mutual fund exposure to corporate bonds nearly flat in five years

Fund managers' preference for sovereign bonds in the recent past has also impacted MFs' corporate bond investments

Book-keeping, accounting, taxation added as financial services in IFSC

With the inclusion, entities registered with the IFSC Authority will be able to provide these services to non-residents while operating from GIFT city

Budget 2024-25: Insurers hope for tax reliefs, provisions for uncertainties

Insurers have suggested introduction of a separate tax deduction limit for life insurance, waiver of taxation on annuity and pension products

Best of BS Opinion: Turnaround awaited, Geography of unequal growth & more

Here is the best of Business Standard's opinion pieces for today

Ease of business vs tax pressure

Obviously, tax officials believe that all these tightly regulated companies, including government ones, have short-changed the government

Budget 2024 wishlist: Gaming industry seeks clarity on regulation, taxation

Firms expect Budget to address concerns on consumer/player protection, without stifling innovation

The capital gains tax conundrum

Capital gains tax suffers from varied tax rates or holding periods for different types of instruments even though they fall within the same asset class

The tradeoffs of waste taxation

Policymakers have been grappling to understand the implicit micro-foundations along with behavioral idiosyncrasies of waste regulation and designing the appropriate fiscal instruments for the same

Britain set to start cutting taxes ahead of likely election next year

Britain's Conservative government will try to win favour with voters by cutting taxes but avoiding worsening inflation in a budget statement on Wednesday, coming ahead of a likely national election next year that opinion polls suggest it will lose. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has hinted that tax cuts are back on the agenda now that his self-imposed pledge to halve inflation this year has been met and government revenue is higher than anticipated. In a speech Monday, Sunak raised expectations that Treasury chief Jeremy Hunt's autumn statement will begin reducing the tax burden in the UK, which is the highest in 70 years in the wake of COVID-19 and the energy price spike triggered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Sunak said on Monday that his government would cut tax and reward hard work but would avoid doing anything that puts at risk our progress in controlling inflation". Inflation eased to 4.6 per cent in October from a year earlier after hitting a 41-year high of 11.1 per cent in

GST exemptions disrupt input tax credit chain, will complex GST: CBIC chief

Indirect tax authorities to send intimation to businesses not complying with e-invoicing rules

Defer your tax liability from ESOPs by extending exercise period

For more favourable tax treatment at sale, hold the acquired shares for more than a year

HDFC Life Q2 net profit up 15.5% to Rs 376.77 crore; VNB margins moderate

For the April-Sep period, net profit increased 15 per cent year-on-year to Rs 792 crore on the back of a healthy back book surplus

Gaming industry sees tax liability increasing by 1,400% on DGCI calculation

An official said that companies have pleaded that the GST demand raised is 3-4 times their revenues and that they will not be able to survive this

Multi-asset playbook divides mutual fund industry; hybrids in demand

Three recent launches opt for debt taxation, two stick to equity

Biz can claim ITC on goods procured for distribution to dealers: GST AAR

Businesses can claim input tax credit on items, like gold coins and white goods, procured for distribution to dealers upon achieving pre-specified sales targets as part of promotional schemes, a GST advance ruling authority has ruled. The Karnataka-bench of the AAR (Authority for Advance Ruling) ruled that ITC can be availed on taxes paid for procurement of white goods or gold coins for the purpose of incentive to dealer as it is a supply. Orient Cement Ltd had approached the AAR seeking ruling in whether ITC can be claimed on distribution of gold coins and white goods to its dealers upon achieving a specified target fixed under the scheme. The company also offers various promotional schemes "Monthly/ Quarterly Quantity Discount Scheme", etc. The said sales promotion scheme helps the company in achieving their sales and collection targets. The AAR noted that the applicant is issuing these gold coins and white goods so procured as incentives as per the agreement reached between himse

Govt losing revenue due to GST, should be neutral with single rate: Debroy

Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister Chairman Bibek Debroy on Tuesday said the government was losing revenue due to the GST, which should be revenue neutral with a single rate. Speaking at an event organised by the Calcutta Chamber of Commerce here, he however said that GST has led to a lot of simplification. "The ideal GST is one that has a single rate, and it was meant to be revenue neutral. According to calculations by the finance ministry when GST was first introduced, the average rate should be at least 17 per cent. But, the existing rate is 11.4 per cent. Because of GST, the government is losing revenue," the eminent economist said. Debroy said the public as well as members of the GST Council want the 28 per cent tax rate to come down, but "no one wants the 0 and 3 per cent tax rates to go up". "That way, we will never have a simplified GST," he said at the 'Special Session on Resilient and Self-Sufficient India'. A "lot of abuse" of GST provisions was taking plac

Govt lost Rs 1 trn in taxes in FY21 due to corporate tax cut: MoS Fin

The government lost a little over Rs 1 lakh crore in 2020-21 on account of a cut in corporate taxes, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said on Tuesday. In September 2019, the government announced a cut in base corporate tax for then existing companies to 22 per cent from 30 per cent; and for new manufacturing firms, incorporated after October 1, 2019, to 15 per cent from 25 per cent. Companies opting for these new tax rates had to forego all exemptions and incentives. The effective tax rate for existing units, after considering surcharges and cess -- such as Swachh Bharat cess and education cess, which are levied on top of the income and corporate tax rates -- is 25.17 per cent as compared to 34.94 per cent earlier. For new units, it is 17.01 per cent as against 29.12 per cent previously. In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, Chaudhary had said the estimated revenue loss (due to reduction in corporate tax) in FY 2020-21 has been reestimated to be Rs 100,241 crore. In