Taxmen are expected to soon get an ‘IT’ fillip in sniffing out unaccounted wealth. The income tax department has developed a ‘computer aided investigation tool’ that it claims can catch suspicious transactions in the books of accounts. “With the nodal centre operating the system at Mumbai, it will be soon rolled out in seven places.
The Direct Taxes Code (DTC) Bill has proposed to substitute all profit-linked incentives with investment-linked incentives for businesses that enjoy tax sops under the existing law. Apart from developers of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and units operating out of them, the proposal will also affect companies in power, infrastructure, food processing, hotel and hospital sectors, among others.
The government has proposed to impose capital gains tax on overseas acquisitions if the acquired company holds over 50 per cent assets in India to plug the loophole that led to Vodafone disputing a tax claim on its USD 11.1 billion deal with Hutchison.
Insurance policyholders could be in for a bonanza once the new Direct Taxes Code, or DTC, comes into effect, as insurance firms may pass on the tax benefit proposed in the bill. The new income-tax law tabled in Parliament has exempted the policyholders’ fund, the investment corpus created from premium payments, from the 12.5% tax on income earned.
The government is confident the proposed Direct Taxes Code (DTC) will increase the income tax base, which currently stands at around 3.25 crore, as well as boost economic growth and equity. “We do hope that tax base will widen… Minimum exemptions will lead to higher tax-GDP ratio,” Revenue Secretary Sunil Mitra said here.
Salaried taxpayers may have less kitty for holidays from April 2012, with the government proposing to scrap tax incentives on leave travel allowance in the new direct tax regime DTC. The Direct Taxes Code (DTC) bill, which was tabled in the Lok Sabha yesterday, seeks to do away with leave travel concession (LTC) from its list of exemption. “LTC was one of the popular elements given to employees by the government.
Special Economic Zones are likely to lose their sheen, with Direct Taxes Code Bill proposing to introduce minimum alternate tax at 20 per cent on the book profit of developers as well as units from April 1, 2012.
Union Finance Minister, Shri Pranab Mukherjee has asked the insurance companies to create awareness among the poor and vulnerable section of the society especially the people living in rural areas so that they can avail the benefits of financial services. He further said that they may be informed about the benefits of the life insurance and insurance against natural calamities.
The Finance Minister, Shri Pranab Mukherjee has asked the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and Central Board of Customs and Excise (CBEC) to constitute Standing Committee at the level of Chief Commissioners to have a systematic bottom to top approach for litigation management.
The Direct Taxes Code (DTC) Bill proposes to raise the exemption limit for imposing wealth tax to Rs 1 crore from Rs 15 lakh at present, a move that will help a lot of taxpayers avoid the levy. The Rs 1 crore limit proposed in the Direct Taxes Code Bill, however, is much less that the exemption of Rs 50 crore proposed in the original draft.
