Income tax relief could be in store for US-bound students with New Delhi planning to seek changes in the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement. Indian students have to pay an income tax on earnings from part-time jobs. This is because the India-US tax treaty provides for treatment of Indian students on a par with US nationals without giving a special tax relief.
The Government is not bound under the Right to Information law to divulge details about its Income Tax scrutiny policy, used to identify tax payees before subjecting them to detailed investigation. The Central Information Commission held this while accepting the Finance Ministry’s view that revealing information related to the scrutiny guidelines would adversely affect economic interests of the country.
