New Delhi, Feb 10 (IANS) The new Income Tax Bill is contemplated to raise the level of transparency in tax laws by adopting clear and unambiguous language in tax provisions which allows the taxpayers to easily understand their obligations and rights, industry experts said on Monday.Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is expected to introduce the Income Tax Bill this week, which would go to the Parliament’s Standing Committee on Finance for scrutiny.
With the commitment of the government to ‘trust first, scrutinise later’, the proposal for an introduction of new IT Bill has been a matter of current buzz. Various stakeholders are anticipating numerous changes as compared to erstwhile income-tax law.
“It is expected that the new IT Bill 2025 would address the issue of complexity in determining tax residency of an individual in India. Currently, it involves multiple conditions for qualifying an individual as a tax resident,” said Harsh Bhuta, Partner, Bhuta Shah & Co.
Currently, the income tax law comprises of humongous tax provisions. The new IT Bill is anticipated to address this issue by eliminating certain redundant as well as obsolete provisions and reducing its volume considerably.
According to experts, the new IT Bill would not entail any new tax but concentrate on facilitating tax compliance in a better way.
It is also expected that announcements for income-tax reliefs or amendments to the income-tax law will now no longer be required to wait till budget proposals. The government can make the changes to relief by way of executive orders only.
Bhuta further stated that the focus of new IT Bill will be on reduced number of scrutiny in case of gross non-compliance to ensure that undue harassment to honest taxpayers is curbed. Also, this will lead to reduction in litigation issues.
The new IT Bill is set to reduce the complex compliance burden by simplifying the compliance process making it easier and comprehensible for all taxpayers thereby ensuring savings in cost and time.
Experts said that the ongoing review of the Income-tax Act, 1961, seeks to modernise and simplify India’s tax system in line with broader economic goals.
It aims to enhance the ease of doing business, reduce ambiguity in interpretations, improve tax administration and compliance. This will help increase India’s tax-GDP ratio to global levels and support sustainable economic growth, said Sandeep Chaufla, Partner - Price Waterhouse and Co (PwC).
—IANS