Dear Professional Colleagues, This Amendment Will Apply To Assessment Year 19-20 & Subsequent Years.
1)The finance minister has proposed to increase cess on personal income tax and corporation taxto 4% from present 3%. This will increase the effective income tax an individual taxpayer pays.
2) A standard deduction of Rs 40,000 has been proposed to be introduced for salaried individuals in Budget 2018. About 2.5 crore salaried employees and pensioners would benefit from this proposal and it would cost the government around Rs. 8,000 crores, according to the finance minister. According to Budget proposals, salaried individuals will get a standard deduction of Rs. 40,000 on income in place of the present exemption allowed for transport allowance of Rs 19200 and reimbursement of miscellaneous medical expenses of up to Rs 15000. The standard deduction allows for a flat deduction from income of a salaried individual towards expenses an employee would incur in relation to his or her employment. Standard deduction, which was earlier available to the salaried individuals on their taxable income, was abolished with effect from the assessment year 2006-07.
3) Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in Budget 2018 announced a new tax of 10% on long-term gains from investing in stock markets and equity mutual funds. Under the proposed new tax, profits of more than Rs. 1 lakh from stock and equity mutual fund investments held over one year will be taxed at 10%. At present, profits from stock and equity mutual fund investments held for more than 12 months are tax exempt. However, long-term capital gains made on investments up to January 31, 2018, will not be taxed.
4) The finance minister also introduced a 10% tax on distributed income by equity-oriented mutual funds at the rate of 10%.
5) For senior citizens, the government has announced a number of measures that will help ease their tax burden: Exemption of interest income on deposits with banks and post offices to be increased from Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 50,000, hike in deduction limit for health insurance premium and/or medical expenditure from Rs. 30,000 to Rs. 50,000 under section 80D.
6) TDS not required to be deducted under section 194A and benefit also available for interest from all fixed deposit schemes and recurring deposit schemes.
7)No Change In Slab & Income Tax Rates.
8) PAN to be obtained by all entities including HUF other than individuals in case aggregate of financial transaction in a year is Rs 2,50,000 or more. All directors, partners, members of such entities also to obtain PAN.
Author:
VIVEK MITTAL
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