Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is likely to present the new income tax bill in the Parliament on Thursday. The bill is already being circulated on social media and is getting reactions galore from the taxpayers and experts alike.
However, it is noteworthy that the current Bill is expected to undergo a lot of changes since the income tax portal is still inviting suggestions from people with regards to the new tax bill under the section ‘new’. Either this is just an error of judgement from the income tax department, or the Bill would still undergo a number of changes.
Notably, the current draft has also incorporated a number of deliberations which entailed scores of suggestions given on the income tax portal.
The income tax department has received 6,500 suggestions from stakeholders on review of the Income Tax Act, as per a report.
More than 100 officers reportedly contributed to drafting of the new Bill, offering their experience in tax administration.
Notably, Nirmala Sitharaman, in an interview with Mint also mentioned that the bill would be referred to the Parliamentary committee.
“Normally, standing committees go through this (kind of bill),” she had remarked about the new tax bill.
Standing committee
So, once the bill is presented in the Parliament, it will be referred to the standing committee and if there are some objections from the stakeholders, the bill may again get altered accordingly.
“If we recall, in the 2024 Budget, there was a lot of hue and cry over removal of indexation in the long term capital gains. After that the government inserted a provision that the properties bought before July 23 2024 can claim indexation. So, such small tweaks can be made to keep taxpayers satisfied,” said Dipesh Jain, partner of Economic Laws Practice, a law firm in an interview with Mint.
Chirag Chauhan, A Mumbai-based chartered accountant, says that the new tax bill may undergo several changes. “The bill will be referred to the standing committee, then it will go to the law committee before being referred back to Lok Sabha. So, this is not the final version,” he says.
