MONDAY, JULY 08, 2024
Team Herald
PANJIM: The Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) has submitted a Pre-Budget Memorandum prior to the Union Budget 2024-2025 to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
The memorandum sent by GCCI President Shrinivas Dempo contains fifteen sections which include macro level reforms to direct and indirect taxes, rationalisation of tax rates, suggestions for tourism sector, real estate, ship building, MSME, exports, Startups and effective use of IT for ease of doing business and procedural changes.
The memorandum drafted by the GCCI Taxation Committee led by chartered accountant Rohan Bhandare has suggested incentivising regular tax payers by faster processing, faster refunds and considering past compliance before issuing notices.
It has suggested that for individual taxpayers standard deduction under the new scheme should be raised to 25% of the salary or Rs 1.5 lakh, whichever is lower.
It proposed that the basic limit of income tax slab can be raised to Rs five lakh and rebate can be raised under 87A which is now at Rs seven lakh to Rs ten lakh under the new scheme.
It has suggested to increase the limit of interest on housing loans under section 24 from Rs two lakh to Rs five lakh, limit for gifts in Section 56(2)(x) from Rs 50,000 to Rs one lakh and annual limit for contribution to PPF from Rs 1.5 lakh to three lakh.
The industry body has suggested rationalising the entire TDS and TCS mechanism by consolidating the sections (other than Salary and Non-Residents) into a few major heads for TDS/TCS deductions for resident taxpayers.
"TDS for Contractors, Commission and Professionals could be combined into one category. The system of TDS compliance should move towards becoming PAN based rather than TAN based. TDS Sections such as 194R, 194Q and 206C(1H), which have resulted in unwarranted complexity in the TDS law, should be withdrawn for Ease of Doing Business.
The rates for the new TDS sections should not exceed 5%. It is suggested that a TDS Wallet, similar to banking payments wallet or to an Electronic Cash Ledger in GST may be suitably implemented. This would also give an option to assess to pay the amount in advance. A detailed notification should be provided by the Income Tax Department to ensure there are no characterisation disputes," the GCCI has said.
