This
is the second extension for the taskforce under the CBDT member
Akhilesh Ranjan.
The
much-anticipated report on the new direct tax code (DTC) to overhaul
and simplify the 58-year-old Income
Tax Act has been pushed back by a fortnight. The taskforce, set
to submit the report on July 31, was handed a 15-day extension at the
last minute to incorporate views of the new members, said the
official statement.
“The
government has allowed the task force to submit its report by August
16, in light of the fact that the new members… requested for more
time to provide further inputs,” the government said in a release.
The
government had last month expanded the scope of the taskforce to look
into five more areas and nominated two new members — Chief Economic
Advisor (CEA) Krishnamurthy Subramanian and Joint Secretary (Revenue)
Ritvik Pandey.
“The
report was all set to be submitted today (Wednesday), but CEA
Subramanian wanted to give additional inputs, hence the deadline was
extended,” said a government official.
The
new terms of reference included faceless and anonymised scrutiny,
mechanism for system-based cross verification of the financial
transactions, reduction in litigation and expeditious disposal of
appeals.
This
is the second extension for the taskforce under the Central
Board of Direct Tax (CBDT) member Akhilesh Ranjan. Earlier, the
committee was supposed to submit its report by May 31, but then
finance minister Arun Jaitley gave a two-month extension to complete
the exercise.
In
fact, the earlier report led by former CBDT member Arbind Modi with
same terms of reference was not accepted by then finance minister in
September last year, on the grounds that all members could not arrive
at a consensus.
The
proposed DTC is aimed at reforming complex income tax laws into
simpler tax codes with reduced rates, fewer exemptions and tax slabs.
Once the draft report is ready, it will be put up for public
suggestions to address the concerns of all stakeholders.
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