* To simplify the tax system and lower tax rates, around 70 of more than 100 income tax deductions and exemptions have been removed.
* Dividend Distribution Tax (DDT) abolished; Companies will not be required to pay DDT; dividend to be taxed only at the hands of recipients, at applicable rates.
* Cash reward system envisaged to incentivise customers to seek invoice.
* 15% concessional tax rate for new power generation companies.
* Tax on cooperative societies reduced to 22% without exemptions.
* 100% tax concession to sovereign wealth funds on investment in infrastructure projects.
* Tax on Cooperative societies to be reduced to 22 per cent plus surcharge and cess ,as against 30 per cent at present.
* To end tax harassment, new taxpayer charter to be instituted. Tax harassment will not be tolerated, says FM.
* To amend I-T Act to allow faceless appeals.
* To launch new direct tax dispute settlement scheme — Vivaad se Vishwaas scheme.
* Interest and penalty will be waived for those who wish to pay the disputed amount till March 31.
* Government to look at ensuring that contracts are honoured.
* Proposes new National Policy on Official Statistics to improve data collection and dissemination with ..
* Rules of origin requirements in Customs Act to be reviewed, to ensure FTAs are aligned with the conscious direction of our policy: FM
* Aadhaar-based verification of taxpayers is being introduced to weed out dummy or non-existent units; instant online allotment of PAN on the basis of Aadhaar.
* Registration of charity institutions to be made completely electronic, donations made to be pre-filled in IT return form to claim exemptions for donations easily.
Housing:
* Tax holiday for affordable housing extended by 1 year. Additional deduction up to Rs. 1.5 lakhs for interest paid on loans taken for an affordable house extended till 31st March, 2021.
Investment:
* Govt plans to sell part of its holding in Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) by way of Initial Public Offering.
* Certain specified categories of government securities will be open fully for NRIs
apart from being open to domestic investors
* FPI limit in corporate bonds raised to 15% from 9%.
* Government doubles divestment target for the next fiscal at Rs 2.1 lakh crore.
* Expand Exchange Traded Fund by floating a Debt ETF, consisting primarily of govt. securities.
Indirect Tax :
* Customs duty raised on footwear to 35% from 25% and on furniture goods to 25% from 20%.
* Excise duty proposed to be raised on Cigarettes and other tobacco products, no change made in the duty rates of bidis.
* Basic customs duty on imports of news print and light-weight coated paper reduced from 10% to 5%.
* Customs duty rates revised on electric vehiclesand parts of mobiles.
* 5% health cess to be imposed on the imports of medical devices, except those exempt from BCD.
* Lower customs duty on certain inputs and raw materials like fuse, chemicals, and plastics.
*Higher customs duty on certain goods like auto-parts, chemicals, etc. which are also being made domestically.
Startups & MSME:
* Tax burden on employees due to tax on ESOPs to be deferred by five years or till they leave the company or when they sell, whichever is earliest.
* New Simplified return for GST from April 2020
* Start-ups with turnover up to Rs. 100 crore to enjoy 100% deduction for 3 consecutive assessment years out of 10 years.
* Turnover threshold for audit of MSMEs to be increased from Rs 1 crore to Rs 5 crore, to those businesses which carry out less than 5% of their business in cash.
* App-based invoice financing loans product to be launched, to obviate problem of delayed payments and cash flow mismatches for MSMEs.
* Amendments to be made to enable NBFCs to extend invoice financing to MSMEs
Fiscal numbers & allocations:
* FY20 fiscal deficit revised to 3.8% from 3.3% in the current fiscal. For FY21, fiscal target seen at 3.5%.
* Deviation of 0.5%, consistent with Section 4(3) of FRBM Act.
* Net market borrowing for FY20 at Rs 4.99 lakh crore; For FY21 it’s pegged at Rs 5.36 lakh crore.
* Nominal GDP growth for 2020-21 estimated at 10%.
* Receipts for 2020-21 estimated at Rs 22.46 lakh crore. Expenditure at Rs 30.42 lakh crore.
* Defence gets Rs 3.37 lakh crore as the defence budget
* Rs 2.83 lakh crore to be allocated for the 16 Action Points; Rs 1.6 lakh crore allocated to agriculture and irrigation; Rs 1.23 lakh crore for Rural development and Panchayti Raj.
* Rs 4,400 crore for clean air; Rs 53,700 crore for ST schemes; Rs 85,000 crore for SC, OBCs schemes; Rs 28,600 for women specific schemes; Rs 9,500 crore for senior citizen schemes.
