Government considering increase in the income-tax exemption limit for individuals in next budget

The government is exploring an increase in the income-tax exemption limit for individuals to compensate for the high recent inflation, but revenue considerations and the fact that the limit was hiked sharply in 2008-09 could force it to maintain status quo or give just a token hike.  The proposal has figured in the preliminary discussions , as the policymakers debate ways to give some relief to households from high inflation.

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Short term capital losses subject to STT can be set off against Short term capital gains not subject to STT

Background:-The Finance Act, 2004 introduced section 111A in the Income-tax Act, 1961 (the Act) prescribing a tax rate of 10 percent on Short Term Capital Gains (STCG) arising from sale of shares on or after 1 October 2004 on a stock exchange which are subject to Securities Transaction Tax (STT).

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MAT, Clarification regarding add back of ‘Provision for diminution in the value of asset’ while computing book profit

1. MAT Provisions: (Clauses 43, 44 & 45)

1.1 Present Provision: 115JA, 115JAA and 115JB

It was zero-tax companies, which were profitable and paid dividends to shareholders but owing to various deductions/sops available under the tax laws did not have a taxable income and thus did not pay tax, that caught the attention of the legislators and led to the introduction of MAT.

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Tax profit on sell of license by new mobile operators at high rate

The Member of Parliament and former owner of BPL Mobile, Mr Rajeev Chandrasekhar, has written to the Prime Minister suggesting the Government should impose a windfall (Extra) tax on new mobile players if they sold their licences.

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State should be compensated for loss of revenue on implementation of GST

States that have huge mineral and petroleum reserves, but are economically backward may face significant loss of tax revenues on implementation of goods and services tax (GST), according to economists and experts in public finance. Introduction of GST would lead to the abolition of central sales tax (CST), which is collected by state governments on inter-state sales of goods. The CST rate was reduced from 4% to 2% at the time of introducing value added tax (VAT) in 2005.

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New Tax Code – Favouring the Millionaires and Bullying the Others

DIRECT TAX CODE BILL, 2009 was unveiled by our Hon. Finance Minister on 12th August 2009 and has been placed in the public domain for an analytical study and critical review of all its clauses. It seeks to consolidate and amend all the Laws relating to the Direct Taxes. It seeks to bring all Direct Taxes under one code for providing a single tax reporting system. It has been stated that the new code is drafted by taking into account the internationally accepted principles and their best practices to make it at par with world practises and not merely to replace the existing Income Tax Act of 1961.

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Set-off of short-term capital losses, subject to STT, allowable against short-term capital gains not subject to STT

The Income-tax Appellate Tribunal (“the Tribunal”)  , in the case of First State Investments (Hongkong) Ltd. A/c  First State Asia Innovation and Technology Fund1 (“the  assessee”), examined the manner of set-off of short- term capital loss suffered from sale transactions subject  to Securities  Transaction Tax (”STT”) against short- term capital gains arising prior to introduction of STT,  during the financial year.

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Implications of the draft code

The long awaited Direct Tax Code Bill 2009 (‘Code’) was finally unveiled by the Finance Minister on August 12, 2009. The Code seeks to bring all direct taxes under one code and pave way for a single unified tax reporting system. The Finance Minister has indicated that the Code has been drafted on a clean slate after studying and adopting internationally accepted principles and best practices in the world and is not an attempt to ‘amend’ or ‘improve’ upon the present Income-tax Act, 1961 (‘Act’).

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