Direct tax collections have more than trebled and the return filers swelled to 2.4 times over the past 10 years, Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman said while presenting the Interim Budget 2024-25 in Parliament today. The minister assured taxpayers that their contributions have been used wisely for the development of the country and welfare of its people.
Sitharaman added that under the new tax regime, the tax rates have been reduced and rationalised.
“There is now no tax liability for taxpayers with income up to Rs 7 lakh, up from Rs 2.2 lakh in the financial year 2013-14. The threshold for presumptive taxation for retail businesses was increased from Rs 2 crore to Rs 3 crore. Similarly, the threshold for professionals eligible for presumptive taxation was increased from Rs 50 lakh to Rs 75 lakh. Also, the corporate tax rate was decreased from 30% to 22% for existing domestic companies and to 15% or certain new manufacturing companies,” the FM said in her Speech.
The minister highlighted that in the last five years, the government’s focus had been to improve tax-payer services. “The age-old jurisdiction-based assessment system was transformed with the introduction of Faceless Assessment and Appeal, thereby imparting greater efficiency, transparency and accountability”, she said.
Sitharaman also said that the introduction of updated income tax returns, a new Form 26AS, and pre-filling of tax returns have made filing of tax returns simpler and easier, reducing average processing time of returns from 93 days in the year 2013-14 to a mere 10 days this year, enabling faster refunds.
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