New Delhi:
INDIA bloc parties will stage protests in and outside Parliament today against what they describe as “discrimination” against opposition-ruled states in the recently unveiled Union Budget.

1. The high-level meeting saw participation from several prominent leaders, including the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, Congress’ deputy leaders in both houses Pramod Tiwari and Gaurav Gogoi, NCP (SCP) chief Sharad Pawar, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut, TMC’s Derek O’Brien and Kalyan Banerjee, DMK’s TR Baalu, JMM’s Mahua Maji, AAP’s Raghav Chadha and Sanjay Singh, and CPI(M)’s John Brittas. Congress general secretaries KC Venugopal and Jairam Ramesh were also present.

2. “The concept of a budget has already been destroyed by this year’s Union Budget. They have completely discriminated against most of the states. So, the general sentiment of the INDIA bloc meeting was we have to protest against this,” said Mr Venugopal claimed following the meeting. He later expressed on social media that the budget was “extremely discriminatory and dangerous,” going against the principles of federalism and fairness.

3. As part of their protest, Congress chief ministers will also boycott the NITI Aayog meeting scheduled for July 27. “This government’s attitude is completely antithetical to Constitutional principles. We will not participate in an event that is solely designed to hide the true, discriminatory colors of this regime,” Mr Venugopal alleged.

4. On Tuesday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Budget for 2024-25, marking her seventh consecutive budget presentation, surpassing former Prime Minister Morarji Desai’s record. This budget is the first under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s third term in office. During her speech, Ms Sitharaman said that the country’s inflation remains stable and is moving towards 4 per cent, with core inflation at 3.1 per cent.

5. “The ‘#BudgetForViksitBharat’ ensures inclusive growth, benefiting every segment of society and paving the way for a developed India,” wrote Prime Minister Narendra Modi on social media. 

6. Speaking exclusively with NDTV, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju claimed that “no one with a sane mind” will criticise the 2024 Union Budget. “I feel this Budget lays the strongest-ever foundation for ‘atmanirbhar’ Bharat because the Prime Minister has already given a clear-cut vision to make India a developed nation by 2047,” he said. 

7. Ms Sitharaman highlighted several key points in the budget, including rewards for key NDA allies, tax relief for new taxpayers, and a focus on job creation for youth. 

8. The budget introduced several changes to the tax regime, increasing the standard deduction in the new tax regime from Rs 50,000 to Rs 75,000 and revising tax slabs to benefit a broader range of income groups. Salaried employees can now save up to Rs 17,500 in income tax under the new slabs.

9. Additionally, the budget included a major announcement for professionals entering the workforce. The government will provide one month’s salary as a Provident Fund contribution for first-time employees, benefiting an estimated 210 lakh youngsters. Additional measures include raising the exemption limit for capital gains on some financial assets to Rs 1.25 lakh per year and abolishing angel tax for all classes of investors.

10. The budget also earmarked significant projects for Bihar and Andhra Pradesh, states whose political leaders recently aligned with the BJP to secure a parliamentary majority. For Bihar, the budget outlines the development of expressways and a power plant, while Andhra Pradesh will see infrastructure projects prioritised, including substantial financial support for capital development.

Post a comment

Katihar/Purnea/Bhagalpur/Muzaffarpur:

Income Tax sleuths on Wednesday carried out searches on premises linked to Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) Rajya Sabha MP Ahmad Ashfaque Karim at multiple locations in Bihar on Wednesday.

The MP is the main trustee and the founder chancellor of Katihar-based Al Karim University, Bihar.

Officials were tightlipped about the raids.

It may be recalled that the probe agency had earlier raided the premises of Mr Karim in connection with the land-for-job scam involving RJD chief Lalu Yadav and his family members.

A statement by the department said, “Patna directorate started the search action at Al Karim Educational Trust, which runs and manages Al Karim University and Katihar Medical College. Main office of the trust is in Patna.” 

“The trust also runs a school of paramedical and allied health sciences, school of information technology and management. Main trustee is Ahmad Ashfaque Karim, who is the founder chancellor of Al Karim University and also a sitting MP of Rajya Sabha,” it said.

“Teams are searching their office records and computers and it is too early to give any leads. Teams of IT officers/officials from Bihar, Jharkhand, and Delhi have been inducted for the operation and security cover has been provided by a central paramilitary force,” the statement said.

Despite repeated attempts by PTI, Mr Karim could not be contacted for his comments on IT searches at the premises linked to him.

In another development, Income Tax sleuths also searched several premises linked to Purnea-based Milia Education Trust in Purnea, Muzaffarpur and Bhagalpur.

“Searches were conducted on premises of Milia Group of Purnea (Bihar), which runs and manages the Milia Educational Trust in Purnea, Muzaffarpur and Bhagalpur districts. The main trustees are Asad Imam, Syed Gulam Hussain, Quaisar Imam, Md. Wasim, Ozair Ahmad and Javed Danish”, a statement by the IT department said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

Over 30 lakh audit reports (TAR) were filed till September 30 on the e-filing portal of the Income Tax Department, the tax authority said on Monday.

The Income-tax Department through the release appreciated taxpayers and tax professionals for making compliances on time. Those who were to get their books audited were supposed to submit the tax audit report on or before September 30 of the relevant assessment year.

“More than 30.75 lakh audit reports, including about 29.5 lakh Tax Audit Reports have been filed for AY 2023-24 on the e-filing portal till the end of the due date (September 30),” the release said.

To facilitate the taxpayers, extensive outreach programmes were carried out.

“Around 55.4 lakh outreaches were done through e-mails, SMSs, social media, along with information messages on Income Tax portal to create awareness among the taxpayers to file the Tax Audit Reports and other audit forms within the due date,” it said.

“Various user awareness videos were uploaded on the Income Tax portal to provide guidance. Such concerted efforts have been helpful to the taxpayers and tax professionals in filing the audit reports within the due date,” the release further said.

The e-filing portal successfully handled the traffic, providing a seamless experience to the taxpayers and tax professionals for filing the audit reports.

“The e-filing helpdesk team has handled approximately 2.36 lakh queries from the taxpayers in the month of September 2023 supporting the taxpayers and tax professionals proactively during the filing period, helping them resolve any complexity involved,” the release added.

File.
| Photo Credit: V. RAJU

Individuals reporting annual total income of over ₹1 crore have doubled to 1.69 lakh in the two-year period ending March 2022, the income tax department data showed.

As per the tax return data filed in assessment year (AY) 2022-23, relating to income earned in fiscal 2021-22, 1,69,890 individuals have shown total income of above ₹ 1 crore.

This is higher than 1,14,446 individuals who had shown similar income in AY 2021-22.

The number has doubled since AY 2020-21, wherein 81,653 individuals had declared an income of over ₹1 crore.

During AY 2022-23, over 2.69 lakh entities, including individuals, companies, firms and trusts, have shown total income of above ₹1 crore.

This includes filings by 66,397 companies, 25,262 firms, 3,059 trusts and 2,068 Association of Persons.

In AY 2022-23, the total number of ITR filed stood at over 7.78 crore, higher than nearly 7.14 crore filed in AY 2021-22 and 7.39 crore filed in AY 2020-21.

As regards the state-wise filing count for AY 2022-23, Maharashtra topped the chart with 1.98 crore ITRs being filed, followed by Uttar Pradesh (75.72 lakh), Gujarat (75.62 lakh), and Rajasthan (50.88 lakh).

The list also includes West Bengal (47.93 lakh), Tamil Nadu (47.91 lakh), Karnataka (42.82 lakh), Andhra Pradesh (40.09 lakh) and Delhi (39.99 lakh).

File picture of Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman with Nitin Gupta, Chairman, Central Board of Direct Taxes
| Photo Credit: Vedhan M

The new income tax regime for filing returns has been “sweetened” in the Budget 2023-24 and it will be beneficial for maximum number of taxpayers as they can enjoy a “reduced” tax rate, CBDT Chairman Nitin Gupta said.

Speaking to PTI during a post-Budget interview, Gupta said the intent of the government while announcing the new slabs and rates under the new tax regime is to gradually “do away with deductions and exemptions” so that the “long-standing demand of reduction of taxes for individual taxpayers and entities can be met.”

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, while presenting the Budget 2023-24 in the Parliament on Wednesday, said the government has made the new income tax regime more attractive for taxpayers and has thus brought about ‘substantial changes’ in its structure for the benefit of the middle class.

“This new regime for individuals was laid down two years ago (Budget of 2020-21) but probably the benefits were not percolating and now the government has re-tweaked the slabs, re-tweaked the number of slabs and rates and the benefit is now clearly visible, be it any taxpayer…,” the CBDT Chairman told the news agency.

He said a similar measure taken for the corporate category of taxpayers sometime back has been found to be beneficial for them. He did not say the number of individual taxpayers who opted for the new regime over the last two years.

EDITORIAL | A raft of concessions amid consolidation: On Budget 2023-24

“The new regime is really sweetened… the section of taxpayers who will not be benefitting will be a very miniscule section which is taking all sorts of benefits in terms of the interest in house property, the deductions under section VIA among others and only those type of taxpayers could be impacted in terms of they would be better off in the old regime.”

“Barring that, the new regime would be beneficial to everyone,” Mr. Gupta said.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) is the administrative body for the Income-tax department.

The CBDT chief said that the government went into various aspects of the new tax regime, bettered it and therefore in the latest Budget, a “parity” of sorts has been achieved between the two schemes.

“There are about 3.5 crore salaried taxpayers in India and every salaried taxpayer will be at par with the old regime if they opt for the new regime because standard deduction has been made available in the new regime… so in terms of parity it has been established.”

“With the reduced number of slabs and wider slabs, the benefit will be percolating to everyone now and the long-standing demand of reduction of taxes will be met,” he said.

Taxpayers have independence to choose

Asked if the Finance Minister’s declaration that the new tax regime will be a “default” tax option will affect the users of old regime in any way, the CBDT Chairman said the taxpayers will have full independence to choose any one of the tax filing systems and none of them will be at any loss including the facility to reverting to the old scheme.

“The new regime is the default scheme in the sense that what will come up on the screen (on the e-filing portal) will be the new regime but the option is intact and the taxpayer can shift between the regimes…”

“There is no disincentive for any section of taxpayers and they can opt for the regime which they want to,” he said.

Mr. Gupta said an ‘online calculator’ will also be provided to the taxpayers, like before over the e-filing portal, to compare their tax liabilities under the two regimes.

Tax slabs

As per the changes proposed in the Budget, no tax would be levied on people with annual income of up to ₹7 lakh under the new tax regime but it made no changes for those who continue in the old regime that provides for tax exemptions and deductions on investments and expenses such as HRA.

Under the revamped new tax regime, no tax would be levied for income up to ₹3 lakh. Income between ₹3-6 lakh would be taxed at 5%; ₹6-9 lakh at 10%, ₹9-12 lakh at 15%, ₹12-15 lakh at 20% and income of ₹15 lakh and above will be taxed at 30%.

“This will provide major relief to all taxpayers in the new regime,” Sitharaman said in her Budget speech.

An individual with an annual income of Rs 9 lakh will be required to pay only ₹45,000. This is only 5% of his or her income. It is a reduction of 25% on what he or she is required to pay now (in the old regime) — ₹60,000, she said.

Also read |Union Budget 2022 | Income tax slabs unchanged, tax payers can file returns in two years

“Similarly, an individual with an income of ₹15 lakh would be required to pay only ₹1.5 lakh or 10% of his or her income, a reduction of 20% from the existing liability of ₹1,87,500,” Sitharaman said.

The minister later told reporters during a press conference on Wednesday that the government wants to make the new tax regime attractive enough and compliance should not be burdensome on taxpayers. However, if someone feels the old regime is more beneficial, he/she can continue in it.

“The ultimate interest is to make the simpler (new) regime more attractive,” she said.