One of the possible ways by which a larger number of persons can be brought under the tax net is to identify potential taxpayers through certain economic indicators. There could be a number of such economic indicators which may be employed for this purpose. It would be a reasonable presumption that any person who satisfies the requirement of ownership/use/expenditure on the following four indicators should be a person having taxable income :
(i) Ownership/lease of a motor vehicle;
(ii) Occupation of any category or categories of immovable property as may be specified by the Board by notification, whether by way of ownership or tenancy or otherwise;
(iii) Foreign travel; or
(iv) Subscription of a telephone.
It is proposed to amend section 139 in order to provide that any person who fulfils any two of the four conditions mentioned above, be required to file a return of his income. It is proposed to levy a penalty of five hundred rupees in cases where the return of income is not furnished although required on the basis of the above indicators. Initially, these provisions will be applicable to only some selected cities to be notified.
The proposed amendment will take effect from 1st April, 1997 and will, accordingly, apply in relation to assessment year 199798 and subsequent years. [ Clause 42]
New estimated income scheme for computing profits and gains of retail traders
In order to simplify the procedure of computation of income of retail traders, it is proposed to introduce a new scheme for computing profits and gains of such businesses presumptively at five per cent. of the gross receipts. This scheme is similar to the presumptive schemes of computation of income under section 44AD and section 44AE.
The Bill proposes to insert a new section 44AF in the Income-tax Act to achieve this purpose. Consequently, Chapter XII-C which provided for a flat tax of Rs.1400 for small businesses is being deleted.
The proposed amendment will take effect from 1st April, 1998 and will, accordingly, apply in relation to assessment year 1998-99 and subsequent years. [Clauses 14 & 39]
Modification in provisions for estimating profits of civil construction
and plying, hiring or leasing goods carriage business Sub-section (2) of section 44AD and sub-section (3) of section 44AE lay down that any deduction allowable under provisions of section 30 to section 38 shall be deemed to have been already given full effect to and no further deduction under those sub-sections shall be allowed.
Doubts have been raised whether this prohibition will cover payment of interest and salary to the partners of the firms. The Central Board of Direct Taxes had clarified that interest or salary paid to a partner is not deductible under these sections. The matter has been agitated in writ petitions filed before various High Courts. In order to set this controversy at rest, it is proposed to amend these sections to clarify that interest or salary paid to a partner will not be deductible from the income of the firm presumptively computed under these sections.
These amendments will take effect retrospectively from 1st April, 1994 and will, accordingly, apply in relation to assessment year 1994-95 and subsequent years. [ Clauses 11 & 13]
Under the existing system of collection of tax on dividends, every company, at the time of paying dividend to a shareholder in excess of Rs. 2500, is required to deduct tax at the specified rate and deposit it in the Central Government account. The company is also required to issue TDS certificates to all shareholders in whose cases the tax has been deducted. The shareholders, in turn, have to show the dividend in their return of income and pay the tax at the rate applicable in their case. They also have to enclose the TDS certificates along with the return and claim credit for the tax deducted at source. Many a time, the tax deducted or a part thereof is required to be refunded to the assessee. Thus the procedure for tax collection is cumbersome and involves a lot of paper work.
In order to encourage investment in the shares of domestic companies, the Bill proposes to exempt from income-tax, dividends received from domestic companies on or after 1st June, 1997. Consequently, deductions under section 80L and 80M in respect of corporate dividends have been discontinued. The provisions relating to tax deduction at source from dividends have also been suitably modified.
The Bill also proposes to introduce new provisions for levying a moderate tax on distributed profits. Under the new provisions, the amounts declared, distributed or paid on or after 1st June, 1997 by a domestic company by way of dividends shall be charged to additional income-tax at a flat rate of ten per cent., in addition to the normal income-tax chargeable on the income of the company. The principal officer of the company and the company shall be liable to pay income-tax to the credit of the Central Government within fourteen days from the declaration of dividends. If the principal officer and the company fail to so pay the income-tax to the credit of the Central Government, he or it shall be liable to pay simple interest at the rate of two per cent. for every month or part thereof on the amount of tax payable and such principal officer and the company shall also be deemed to be assessee in default in respect of the amount of tax payable. It is further proposed that no deduction under any of the provisions of the Income-tax Act shall be allowed to the company or the shareholder in respect of the tax on distributed profits. It is also proposed that the additional income-tax so paid by the company shall be treated as the final payment of tax in respect of the amount distributed and no further credit for such tax shall be claimed either by the company or by any other assessee.
The new provisions are proposed to be made effective in respect of amounts declared, distributed or paid as dividends on or after 1st June, 1997. [Clauses 3,27,28 , 33, 40, 46 to 50, 52 & 55]
Section 80-L of the Income-tax Act provides for deduction from the income received from interest on certain securities, dividends, etc., from the gross total income of the assessee. The deduction available is Rs.12,000 in a normal case. In respect of dividends from any Indian company and income received from the units of UTI or approved mutual funds, further deduction of Rs.3,000 is allowed.
The Bill proposes to provide that any income by way of interest on any security of the Central Government or a State Government referred to in clause (i) of sub-section (1) of section 80L, will also be eligible for the additional deduction of three thousand rupees.
This amendment will take effect from 1st April, 1998 and will, accordingly, apply in relation to assessment year 1998-99 and subsequent years. [Clause 27]
Under section 193 of the Income-tax Act, tax deduction at source (TDS) is made in respect of any interest payable on any income by way of interest on securities.
With a view to attract investment in Government securities, the Bill proposes to fully exempt interest payable on any security of the Central Government or a State Government from the requirement of tax deduction at source.
The new provisions are proposed to be made effective from 1st June, 1997 in respect of interest payable on Government securities on or after 1st June, 1997. [ Clause 45]
Reduction in the rate of long term capital gains tax in case of non-residents
Under the existing provisions of the Income-tax Act, long-term capital gains arising to a non-resident Indian are subjected to tax at the rate of 20%. Foreign Institutional Investors are subjected to a tax of 10% in respect of long-term capital gains arising from the transfer of securities listed in a recognised stock exchange in India.
In order to give a level playing field as also to give a boost to foreign capital inflows, the Bill proposes to reduce the rate of long-term capital gains tax arising to a non-resident Indian to 10% from the existing level of 20% by amending section 115E of the Income-tax Act.
The proposed amendment will take effect from 1st April, 1998 and will, accordingly, apply in relation to assessment year 1998-99 and subsequent years. [ Clause 36]
Under the existing provisions of the Income-tax Act, corporatisation of membership of recognised stock exchanges involves transfer of a capital asset and is, therefore, subject to capital gains tax.
In order to encourage more brokers to corporatise, increase their liquidity and consequently their volume of trading resulting eventually in giving a boost to the capital markets, the Bill proposes to exempt corporatisation of membership from capital gains tax by amending sections 47 and 47A of the Income-tax Act. The exemption is proposed to be allowed only in respect of corporatisation effected on or before 31st December, 1997, if the transferror retains such shares for not less than three years.
The proposed amendment will take effect from 1st April, 1998 and will, accordingly, apply in relation to assessment year 1998-99 only. [ Clauses 16 & 17]
Under the existing provisions of the Incometax Act, capital gains arising from the transfer of a capital asset are computed by deducting from the full value of the consideration,
a) the indexed cost of acquisition and the indexed cost of any improvement of the asset; and
b) the amount of expenditure incurred in connection with such transfer.
The purpose of indexation was to tax the real rather than the nominal gains arising from the transfer of a long term capital asset.
However, in the case of transfer of bonds and debentures, there is generally a capital loss since these are sold at a discount in the stock market. This capital loss is further enhanced because of the benefit of indexation resulting in a loss of revenue to the exchequer. In order to plug this loophole, it is proposed to exclude bonds and debentures from the list of capital assets eligible for the benefit of indexation by inserting a third proviso to section 48.
The proposed amendment will take effect from 1st April, 1998, and will, accordingly, apply in relation to assessment year 199899 and subsequent years. [ Clause 18]
Section 44B of the Income-tax Act deals with the computation of profits and gains of shipping business in the case of non-residents. It has come to notice that some assessees are splitting their receipts in such a manner that the receipts in respect of carriage of passengers, live stock etc., which are the subject matter of computation of profits under this section, are reduced and receipts in respect of other charges, such as, demurrage or handling charges etc. are inflated. The result is that while the liability of the client remains the same, the amount on which profits and gains are computed under section 44B gets reduced.
In order to avoid loss of revenue on this account, the Bill proposes to clarify the meaning of the expression "the amount paid or payable etc. on account of carriage" to include any charges by way of demurrage or handling, by whatever name called, and any other charges of similar nature. The Bill also proposes to make a corresponding amendment in section 172, which deals with profits of non-residents from occasional shipping business.
The proposed amendments will take effect retrospectively from 1st April, 1976 and will, accordingly, apply in relation to assessment year 1976-77 and subsequent years. [ Clauses 15 & 44]
Minimum Alternative Tax (MAT) on companies was introduced by the Finance (No.2) Act, 1996 with effect from 1.4.1997 with a view to ensure that companies with business profits do not regularly avoid paying tax. This was necessary due to rise in the number of zero-tax companies in view of tax preferences granted in the form of exemptions, deductions and high rate of depreciation. The rate of minimum tax was kept at a modest figure by deeming 30% of book profits as total income. This modest amount is likely to go down further with the downward revision of corporate tax rate and abolition of surcharge.
The Bill proposes to exempt the export profits that are eligible for deduction under section 80HHC from the purview of the Minimum Alternative Tax.
The proposed amendment will take effect from 1st April, 1998 and will, accordingly, apply in relation to assessment year 1998-99 and subsequent years.
The Bill also proposes to insert a new section 115JAA to provide a tax credit scheme by which MAT paid can be carried forward for set-off against regular tax payable during the subsequent five year period subject to certain conditions, as under:-
1) When a company pays tax under MAT, the tax credit earned by it shall be an amount which is the difference between the amount payable under MAT and the regular tax. Regular tax in this case means the tax payable on the basis of normal
computation of total income of the company.
2) MAT credit will be allowed carry forward facility for a period of five assessment years immediately succeeding the assessment year in which MAT is paid. Unabsorbed MAT credit will be allowed to be accumulated subject to the five year
carry forward limit.
3) In the assessment year when regular tax becomes payable, the difference between the regular tax and the tax computed under MAT for that year will be set off against the MAT credit available.
4) The credit allowed will not bear any interest.
The rationale for allowing credit in respect of taxes paid under MAT in the aforesaid manner is that a company should always pay a minimum tax. The above method will ensure that the company will always pay a minimum tax even while offsetting the MAT credit against regular tax.
The proposed amendment will take effect from 1st April, 1997 and will, accordingly, apply in relation to assessment year 1997-98 and subsequent years. [ Clauses 37 & 38]
Under the existing provisions of section 143(1)(a), intimation is given to an assessee only where there is a prima-facie adjustment or additional demand.
The Bill proposes to make it mandatory for the Assessing Officer to send intimation in case of all returns processed under this section. This will enable taxpayers to have information about the status of their return.
The proposed amendment will take effect from 1st April, 1998 and will, accordingly, apply in relation to assessment year 1998-99 and subsequent years. [ Clause 43]
Clause (viii) of sub-section (1) of section 36 permits the deduction of an amount not exceeding forty per cent. of the profits derived from the business of providing long-term finance carried to any special reserve, created by a financial corporation or a public company. While this clause imposes a condition of creation of a special reserve, it does not impose any condition on the maintenance of the reserve .
In order to incorporate the condition regarding maintenance of the reserve, clause (viii) is proposed to be amended by substituting the words "special reserve created" with the words "special reserve created and maintained". An amendment to section 41 is also proposed in order to bring to tax any amount withdrawn from such special reserve in the year in which the amount is withdrawn. For this purpose, a new sub-section (4A) is sought to be introduced in this section, and a reference of this sub-section is also sought to be made in sub-section (5).
The proposed amendments will take effect from 1st April, 1998 and will, accordingly, apply in relation to assessment year 1998-99 and subsequent years. [Clauses 7 and 9]
Section 115A of the Incometax Act, inter alia, provides for a concessional tax rate of thirty per cent in respect of income by way of royalty and fees for technical services received by foreign companies from Government or an Indian concern in pursuance of an agreement made after the 31st day of March, 1976, which fulfils the specified conditions.
The Bill proposes to further reduce the aforesaid concessional tax rate of thirty per cent, to twenty per cent. The reduced rate will be applicable to royalty and fees for technical services received by foreign companies under agreements made on or after 1st June, 1997.
There will be no change in the conditions specified in section 115A or in the tax rate applicable to royalty and fees for technical services arising out of agreements made before 1st June, 1997.
The proposed amendment will take effect from 1st April, 1998 and will, accordingly, apply in relation to assessment year 199899 and subsequent years in relation to royalty and technical services fees as mentioned above. [Clause 32]
Under the existing provisions of section 194B of the Income-tax Act, any person responsible for paying any income by way of winnings from any lottery or crossword puzzle exceeding five thousand rupees is required to deduct tax at the rates in force. The liability to deduct tax arises irrespective of whether the winnings are in cash or in kind. However, certain difficulties arise in complying with these provisions in cases where the winnings are wholly in kind or where they are partly in cash and partly in kind but the part in cash is not sufficient to meet the liability for tax deduction in respect of the whole of the winnings. Hitherto, it has been provided, by way of a beneficial circular, that no deduction of tax need be made in cases where the winnings are wholly in kind. However, this has led to difficulties in realising the tax due on the winnings directly from the winners.
Therefore, with a view to safeguarding the interest of revenue, it has been provided that in cases where the winnings are wholly in kind or where they are partly in cash and partly in kind but the part in cash is not sufficient to meet the liability for tax deduction in respect of the whole of the winnings, the person responsible for paying shall, before releasing the winnings either in cash or in kind, ensure that tax has been paid in respect of the winnings.
This amendment will take effect from 1st June, 1997. [Clause 47]
Section 206 of the Incometax Act provides for filing of returns of tax deducted at source by persons responsible for deducting tax in accordance with the provisions of Chapter XVII-B.
The returns of tax deduction contain voluminous data, particularly in the cases of large organisations. Preparing these returns and then processing the data contained therein for checking its correctness requires substantial manual effort. The amendment, therefore, provides for filing of these returns on magnetic media such as floppies, diskettes etc. as may be specified by the Board. It is also proposed that the information in such returns shall be admitted in evidence in any proceedings under the Act.
The amendment will take effect from 1st April, 1998 and will, accordingly, apply in relation to assessment year 199899 and subsequent years. [Clause 51]
Under the existing provisions of the Incometax Act, books of account and other documents seized as a result of a search can be retained beyond a period of 180 days only with the approval of the Chief Commissioner or Commissioner and a person who objects to the approval so granted by the Chief Commissioner or Commissioner may apply to the Board for release of the books, etc.. It has been provided that provisional attachment of any property belonging to an assessee can be done only with the previous approval of the Chief Commissioner or Commissioner.
By Finance (No. 2) Act, 1996, the Director of Incometax has been empowered to approve the assessments made by the Assistant Director or Deputy Director of Incometax. However, the ancillary powers of approving retention of books beyond a period of 180 days and approving provisional attachment of property have not been given to the Director General or Director resulting in difficulties in cases where the Assessing Officer is the Assistant Director or Deputy Director.
In order to remove this difficulty, it is proposed to amend sections 132(8), 132(10) and 281B to provide that the approval as required under these sections may be granted by the Director General or Director also.
The proposed amendment will take effect retrospectively from 1st October, 1996. [ Clauses 41 & 56]
The scope of clause (viia) of sub-section (1) of section 36, which provides for a deduction in respect of any provision for bad and doubtful debts made by a bank, was expanded by the Finance (No.2) Act, 1991, with effect from 1.4.1992. By this amendment, provision for bad and doubtful debts made by a public financial institution or a State financial corporation or a State industrial investment corporation was also allowed as a deduction. However, certain related provisions, namely, proviso to clause (vii) of sub-section (1) and clause (v) of sub-section (2) remained to be amended.
Hence, the Bill proposes to amend these provisions retrospectively so as to bring the provisions regarding allowance of bad debt in the case of a financial corporation at par with the provisions regarding allowance of bad debt in the case of a bank.
The proposed amendment will take effect retrospectively from 1st April, 1992 and will, accordingly, apply in relation to assessment year 1992-93 and subsequent years. [Clause 7]
Section 80-O provides for deduction in respect of royalty, commission, fees or any similar payments received by an assessee from a foreign Government or foreign enterprise in consideration of technical and professional service rendered outside India, up to 50% of such income. This tax incentive was contemplated to encourage the export of Indian knowhow and skills abroad.
It is proposed to restrict the deduction available under this section only to any income received from the foreign Government or foreign enterprise in consideration for the use outside India of any patent, invention, design or registered trademark. This incentive will now be focused on genuine resident taxpayers and will encourage them to exploit their patent rights, trade marks and technical knowhow abroad.
The proposed amendment will take effect from 1st April, 1998 and will, accordingly, apply in relation to assessment year 1998-99 and subsequent years. [ Clause 29]
Upto assessment year 1988-89, the gains arising on the transfer of goodwill were not liable to tax. This was on account of the judicial view approved by the Supreme Court (CIT vs B.C. Srinivasa Shetty - 128 ITR 294). The rationale of the Court was that goodwill being a self-generated asset and not costing anything in terms of money, the gains could not be computed in accordance with the provisions of the Act. By Finance Act, 1987, the method of computing the cost of acquisition as well as the cost of improvement of goodwill was provided for. Where goodwill is purchased by the transferor, the cost of acquisition is taken to be the purchase price and in all other cases it is taken to be nil. The cost of improvement in either case is taken to be nil.
Instances have come to light where a right to manufacture, produce or process any article or thing have been extinguished for a consideration. This amount is shown as a capital receipt and is not taxable presently under the head "Capital gains". It is proposed that capital gains tax would be leviable only where such an extinguishment of right to manufacture etc.is for any consideration.It is proposed that such receipts be also subjected to capital gains tax on the same basis as already adopted for taxing transfer of goodwill and tenancy rights. The cost of acquisition and cost of improvement will be determined in the same manner as for goodwill.
The proposed amendment will take effect from 1st April, 1998, and will, accordingly, apply in relation to assessment year 1998-99 and subsequent years. [Clause 19 ]
Under section 37 of the Income-tax Act, any expenditure not being in the nature of capital expenditure or personal expenses of the assessee laid out or expended wholly and exclusively for the purpose of business or profession is allowed as a deduction in computing the income chargeable under the head `Profits and gains of business or profession'.
Sub-sections (2), (3), (4) and (5) of section 37 provide for certain ceilings on expenditure in the nature of entertainment expenses, travelling expenses, advertisement expenses and guest house expenses. These ceilings are mentioned in rules 6AC, 6B and 6D of the Income-tax Rules, 1962.
These artificial restrictions are out of tune with the concept of real income. Therefore, the Bill proposes to remove all these ceilings and to allow the expenditure actually incurred for the purpose. It is, therefore, proposed to delete sub-sections (2), (3), (4) and (5) of section 37. However, the provisions of sub-section (2B) regarding disallowance of expenditure on advertisement in any souvenir, etc., published by a political party will continue to be in force.
The proposed amendment will take effect from 1st April, 1998 and will, accordingly, apply in relation to assessment year 1998-99 and subsequent years. [ Clause 8]
Two schemes of computing profits and gains of business of civil construction, etc. and plying, hiring or leasing goods carriages presumptively were introduced, under section 44AD and section 44AE respectively by the Finance Act, 1994, with effect from 1.4.1994. Under section 44AD income from business of civil construction or supply of labour for civil construction work is presumed at eight per cent. of gross receipts, provided the gross receipts from such a business do not exceed Rs.40 lakh. Under section 44AE the income from business of plying, hiring or leasing of goods carriages is presumed at the rate of Rs.2000 per month or part thereof from a heavy vehicle and Rs.1800 per month or part thereof from other vehicles, provided the assessee does not own more than ten goods carriages. In such cases, the assessee is not entitled to any further deduction under sections 30 to 38 of the Act. Both the schemes are optional to the assessee. He can declare income higher than the income calculated presumptively on the aforesaid basis or he can declare lower income and substantiate his return in the assessment proceedings. The assessees, who opt for these schemes, are not required to maintain books of account.
Public response to these schemes has been below the expected level. The main reason for this is that the assessees are aware of the limited capacity of the Income-tax Department to properly scrutinise and assess all such cases where the income declared is lower than the presumptive income. The result is that a large number of assessees falling in the ambit of these schemes tend to file returns with lower income. In order to ensure that a larger number of taxpayers opt for these simple presumptive schemes instead of declaring lower incomes without maintaining proper accounts, it is proposed to make it obligatory on the part of such assessees to maintain accounts under section 44AA, get these accounts audited under section 44AB and submit the report of audit within the prescribed time limit.
The proposed amendments will take effect from 1st April, 1998 and will, accordingly, apply in relation to assessment year 1998-99 and subsequent years [Clauses 10 & 11 ]
Under the existing provisions of clause (17) of section 10 of the Incometax Act, full incometax exemption is allowed in respect of daily allowance received, inter alia, by a member of a State Legislature or any Committee of the Legislature. In addition, such other allowances received by him which the Central Government may specify by notification in the Official Gazette are also exempt, in the aggregates up to a maximum of rupees six hundred per month.
The Bill proposes to increase the aforesaid limit of exemption in respect of other allowances from six hundred rupees per month to two thousand rupees per month in the aggregate.
The proposed amendment will take effect from 1st April, 1998 and will, accordingly, apply in relation to assessment year 199899 and subsequent years. [ Clause 3]
Section 80JJ provides for a deduction up to 33-1/3% of profits from the business of poultry farming. The poultry industry has since grown considerably. The concession has been reviewed in this context.
The Bill proposes to omit section 80JJ of the Income-tax Act in respect of deductions from the profits and gains from the business of poultry farming.
The proposed amendment will take effect from 1st April, 1998 and will, accordingly, apply in relation to assessment year 1998-99 and subsequent years. [ Clause 26]
Section 80GG provides for a deduction to all assessees (salaried as well as non-salaried), who do not receive any special house rent allowance covered by section 10(13A), in respect of actual expenditure on rents paid for residential accommodation. At present, the amount of deduction available is two thousand rupees per month or twenty five percent of the total income of the year, which ever is less subject to certain conditions.
It has separately been proposed to reduce the tax rates substantially. Therefore, any special relief on account of rents paid by a taxpayer becomes no longer necessary. The deduction has been reviewed in this context. The Bill proposes to omit section 80GG of the Income-tax Act.
The proposed amendment will take effect from 1st April, 1998 and will, accordingly, apply in relation to assessment year 1998-99 and subsequent years. [ Clause 24]
Under the existing provisions of clause (15A) of section 10, any payment made by an Indian company engaged in the business of operation of aircraft , for the purpose of acquiring an aircraft or an aircraft engine, on lease from the Government of a foreign state or a foreign enterprise, is exempt from income-tax. This clause was inserted in 1989 due to certain pressing circumstances which no longer exist. Accordingly, clause (15A) is proposed to be deleted.
Clause (26AA) relating to exemption in respect of any income of a resident of the State of Sikkim by way of winnings from any pre-1989 lottery of the Sikkim Government and clause (28) relating to any amount in respect of tax credit certificates under the provisions of Chapter XXII-B have also become redundant and, therefore, the Bill proposes to delete these provisions.
The proposed amendments will take effect from 1st April, 1998 and will, accordingly, apply in respect of assessment
year 1998-99 and subsequent years. [ Clause 3]