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Published Feb 01, 2023 | 2:30 PM ⚊ Updated Feb 01, 2023 | 7:09 PM
No tax on income upto ₹7 lakh. Representational Image. (Creative Commons)
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday, 1 February, tweaked the slabs to provide some relief to the middle class by announcing that no tax would be levied on annual income of up to ₹7 lakh under the new tax regime.
She also allowed a ₹50,000 standard deduction to taxpayers under the new regime, where assessees cannot claim deductions or exemptions on their investments.
Sitharaman also tweaked the concessional tax regime, which was originally introduced in 2020-21, by hiking the tax exemption limit by ₹50,000 to ₹3 lakh and reducing the number of slabs to five.
In the Budget for 2023-24, Sitharaman said currently individuals with a total income of up to ₹5 lakh do not pay any tax due to rebate under both the old and new regimes.
“It is proposed to increase the rebate for the resident individual under the new regime so that they do not pay tax if their total income is up to ₹7 lakh,” Sitharaman said.
She further said under the new personal income tax regime, the number of slabs would be reduced to five.
“I propose to change the tax structure in this regime by reducing the number of slabs to five and increasing the tax exemption limit to ₹3 lakh,” Sitharaman said.
Under the revamped concessional tax regime, no tax would be levied for income up to ₹3 lakh. Income between ₹3-6 lakh would be taxed at 5 percent; ₹6-9 lakh at 10 percent, ₹9-12 lakh at 15 percent, ₹12-15 lakh at 20 percent and income of ₹15 lakh and above will be taxed at 30 percent.
“I propose to extend the benefit of the standard deduction to the new tax regime. Each salaried person with an income of ₹15.5 lakh or more will thus stand to benefit by ₹52,500,” Sitharaman said.
The government in Budget 2020-21 brought in an optional income tax regime, under which individuals and Hindu Undivided Families (HUFs) were to be taxed at lower rates if they did not avail specified exemptions and deductions, like house rent allowance (HRA), interest on home loan, investments made under Section 80C, 80D and 80CCD. Under this, total income up to ₹2.5 lakh was tax-exempt.
Currently, a five percent tax is levied on total income between ₹2.5 lakh and ₹5 lakh, 10 percent on ₹5 lakh to ₹7.5 lakh, 15 percent on ₹7.5 lakh to ₹10 lakh, 20 percent on ₹10 lakh to ₹12.5 lakh, 25 percent on ₹12.5 lakh to ₹15 lakh, and 30 percent on above ₹15 lakh.
The scheme, however, has not gained traction as in several cases it resulted in a higher tax burden.
With effect from 1 April, these slabs will be modified as per the budget announcement.
The finance minister also announced a ‘Mahila Samman Saving Certificate’ with a fixed interest rate of 7.5 percent for two years.
The deposit can be made in the name of a woman or a girl child. The maximum deposit amount has been kept at ₹2 lakh and the scheme will have a partial withdrawal facility as well.
“One-time new small saving under ‘Mahila Samman Saving Patra’. The deposit facility for the women and girls will be for a period of two years with a rate of interest of 7.5 percent,” Sitharaman announced.
She also said that for the economic empowerment of women under the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana National Rural Livelihood Mission, 81 lakh self-help groups have been created by mobilising rural women.
Sitharaman also announced enhancing the maximum amount of money that can be invested in the senior citizen saving scheme (SCSS) to ₹30 lakh compared to ₹15 lakh now.
(Disclaimer: The headline, subheads, and intro of this report along with the photos may have been reworked by South First. The rest of the content is from a syndicated feed, and has been edited for style.)
