Budget 2024: Govt announces withdrawal of old tax demands in interim budget

Nirmala Sitharaman presenting interim budget/ PTI

In the interim budget for 2024-25, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman declared the government's intent to withdraw disputed direct tax demands from the past. Per the PTI report, the proposed withdrawal includes amounts up to Rs 25,000 for the fiscal years up to 2010 and Rs 10,000 for the period from 2010-11 to 2014-15.

Sitharaman, according to the agency report, said that this move is expected to benefit around one crore taxpayers.

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Sitharaman highlighted the government's commitment to enhancing taxpayer services and announced the formation of a high-level task force to address the challenges faced by the rapidly growing population.

Despite the changes in tax demands, the Finance Minister stated that direct and indirect tax rates, including import duties, will stay intact. She underlined the considerable growth in the number of tax filers, which has risen 2.4 times since 2014, as well as the tripling of direct tax receipts.

The government's emphasis on efficiency is shown in the reduction in tax return processing time from 93 days in FY14 to just 10 days. Refunds are also processed more rapidly, indicating better tax administration, stated the report.

According to the report, Sitharaman emphasised the government's commitment to fiscal consolidation, promising to reduce the deficit to 4.5% in 2025-26. She also highlighted the massive expansion of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) base, which has more than doubled since the fiscal year 2014.

While proposing to maintain current tax rates, Sitharaman acknowledged that some tax incentives for start-ups and investments by sovereign wealth or pension funds were about to expire. To ensure continuity, she advocated extending the expiration date until March 31, 2025.

"As for tax proposals, in keeping with the convention, I do not propose to make any changes relating to taxation and propose to retain the same tax rates for direct taxes and indirect taxes including import duties. However, certain tax benefits to start-ups and investments made by sovereign wealth or pension funds as also tax exemption on certain income of some IFSC units are expiring on 31.03.2024. To provide continuity in taxation, I propose to extend the date to March 31, 2025," said Sitharaman.