Personal Taxes
While there are no changes proposed in personal Income Tax rates and slabs, the Government has made certain key proposals to provide relief to small taxpayers, especially to middle class and salaried earners in the form of:
- Rebate on tax for total income of up to INR 5,00,000 for individuals
- Increase in standard deduction from INR 40,000 to INR 50,000 for salaried employees
- Relief for owners of more than one house; second self-occupied house not to be subject to tax on deeming/notional basis; aggregate deduction of interest on home loan for self-occupied properties retained at INR 2,00,000
- Prescribed monetary threshold for deduction of tax on interest from bank or Post Office deposits increased from INR 10,000 to INR 40,000
- Proportionate exemption on long-term capital gains arising from proceeds of sale of residential house extended to purchase of two residential houses from one house, subject to:
- Amount of capital gain not exceeding INR 2 crore [no monetary threshold continues for investment in one residential house]
- One-time opportunity to claim such exemption
Corporate Taxes
Domestic companies with a turnover not exceeding INR 250 crore during FY 2016-17 continue to enjoy a reduced tax rate of 25% (increased by applicable surcharge and cess). The base year for this reduced tax rate is proposed to be extended to domestic companies with turnover not exceeding INR 250 crore for FY 2017-18.
The provisions relating to TDS on rental payments provide for a monetary threshold of INR 1.8 lakh. This threshold has been enhanced to INR 2.4 lakh.
Certain key amendments have been proposed in the Interim Budget to provide relief and give an impetus to the Real Estate sector, including the affordable housing market:
- The provisions were introduced vide Finance Act 2017 to tax notional income on rentals from property held as stock-in-trade for a period beyond one year from the end of the financial year in which the certificate of completion of property was obtained. This period of holding is proposed to be increased to two years.
- Under the present provisions, deduction on profits is available to developers who are engaged in developing and building affordable housing projects. One of the conditions, i.e. the time taken to seek approval for a project from the competent authority, is proposed to be extended to 31 March 2020.
- The Government envisages a push towards technology-intensive tax assessments and return processing within the next two years. This is directed towards eliminating personal interface and bringing transparency.
Indirect Taxes
The Government has estimated the CGST collection for FY 2019-20 at INR 6.10 lakh crore. This assumes a growth of around 20% over the revised estimate FY 2018-19 at INR 5.04 lakh crore.
Given that overall growth in GST collection in the current year over last year is only 8% (INR 97,100 crore vs INR 89,700 crore on a month-on-month basis), it will be interesting to see how this ambitious target is achieved by the Government.
It will need substantial expansion in the tax base and stringent control over revenue leakages.
Stamp Duty
The proposed amendments in stamp duty provisions are largely aimed at rationalising the various stamp duty provisions as well as streamlining the stamp duty collection mechanism. It is intended to designate stock exchanges and depositories to collect stamp duty on sale or transfer of securities. Such collection will be transferred to the respective state government within the prescribed time. The amendments also propose changes to the rates of duties. It also appears that exemption of stamp duty on transfer of dematerialised shares is proposed to be done away with.