Budget 2024: Sitharaman says 58% tax came from simplified corporate tax regime

Budget 2024: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said 58 per cent tax came from simplified corporate tax regime in the financial year 2024.

More than two-thirds of individuals availed the new income tax regime, Sitharaman said in the Lok Sabha while presenting the Union Budget for fiscal year 2024-25.

She also announced that the government will undertake a comprehensive review of the Income Tax Act to make it easy to read.

In her Union Budget speech, the finance minister said that the government will come out with SoP (standard operating procedure) for TDS defaults and simplify and rationalise compounding of such offences.

The two tax exemption regimes for charitable trusts will be merged into one, she added.

Among the other announcements in the Union Budget, FM Nirmala Sitharaman said that DPI apps will be developed for credit, e-commerce, education, health, law, MSME service delivery, and urban governance.

The government has withdrawn the equalisation levy of 2 per cent.

New Income Tax Regime

Under the new income tax regime in fiscal year 2024-25, the standard deduction for salaried employees has been hiked to ₹75,000 from ₹50,000.

The salaried employees under the new tax regime will save up to ₹17,500 annually in taxes due to the changes proposed in the Budget, the finance minister said.

The government raised the deduction limit to 14 per cent from 10 per cent for employers' contribution to the National Pension System (NPS).

The government has also proposed to raise tax deduction on family pension for pensioners to ₹25,000 from ₹15,000.

Shipping

Sitharaman also proposed a simpler tax regime for foreign shipping companies operating domestic cruises in the country.

There is tremendous potential for cruise tourism in India, the minister said.

Goods and Services Tax

According to the Economic Survey report presented on Monday, the goods and services tax (GST) has played a remarkable role in bringing down the country's logistics cost.

The 'One Nation, One Tax’ regime has ensured that trucks do not have to wait for hours on state borders, which has brought down the travel time by up to 30 per cent.