Budget 2016 may offer sops for housing, healthcare, education

AHMEDABAD: Finance minister Arun Jaitley is likely to introduce some incentives in the budget that can make the life of the common taxpayer easy. These may include benefits for housing, healthcare and education and some steps to encourage savings and investment.

The finance minister is also expected to lay down a clear road map for implementing his earlier promise of lowering the corporate tax rate to 25%, while balancing this with the exercise of pruning exemptions and deductions for the corporate sector.

Revising limits and reducing rates for tax deduction at source (TDS), rationalizing several TDS procedures and raising monetary limits for maintenance of books of accounts and tax audit also appear to be receiving the attention of the North Block officials engaged in drafting of the Finance Bill, 2016. These were among the key recommendations of the Justice Easwar Committee appointed by Jaitley.

“Judging by the trend of several taxpayer-friendly administrative measures announced by the CBDT in the past four months, a lot more can be expected in the budget proposals. These could include provisions relating to smoother scrutiny assessments and speedier tax refunds and legislative amendments for curbing undesirable tax litigation,” said Mukesh Patel, tax expert and a member of the Justice Easwar Committee.



He said, “While the strings on the FM’s purse do appear to be tight, which may restrain him from showering big bounties on taxpayers in budget 2016, it should turn out to be a win-win situation. By accepting proposals of our committee, the FM can instill a real ‘feel-good factor’ among the taxpayers without any loss of revenue.” By taking these steps, Jaitley is expected to present a budget in line with PM Narendra Modi’s vision for ‘ease of doing business’ and commitment for ‘a stable and efficient tax regime’.