DON’T PAY OVER `3L IN CASH

above `5 lakh will also get a uniform benefit of `12,500 per person.

“The new levy of surcharge of 10% on income levels between `50 lakh and `1 crore will result in additional tax liability by almost `2.77 lakh at the top end of this income range. For such taxpayers, the increase in tax liability for 2017-18 will be approximately 9.5% over their annual tax liability under the current tax rates,” said Alok Agrawal, Senior Director, Deloitte Haskins & Sells.

Mr Jaitley said there will be no scrutiny of assessees filing income tax returns for the first time. Individuals having taxable income up to `5 lakh can just fill up a simple onepage form for filing their tax returns. Meanwhile income tax officers can now reopen tax cases for up to 10 years if search operations reveal undisclosed income and assets of over `50 lakh. Currently, I-T officers can go back up to 6 years to scrutinise the books of accounts of assesses. In a bid to clamp down on black money, the Union finance minister Arun Jaitley while presenting the Budget 2017-18 on Wednesday proposed to ban all cash transactions above `3 lakh effective April 1, 2017 in line with recommendations of a Special Investigation Team.

“The Special Investigation Team (SIT) set up by the government for black money has suggested that no transaction above `3 lakh should be permitted in cash. The government has decided to accept this proposal. Suitable amendment to the Incometax Act is proposed in the Finance Bill for enforcing this decision,” said Jaitley while presenting the Budget.

The SIT, headed by Justice M.B. Shah (retired), in July 2016 had submitted its fifth report to the Supreme Court on steps needed to curb black money and had suggested banning cash transactions above `3 lakh and capping the cash holdings of individuals and companies at `15 lakh. These measures could help in ensuring a paper trail for every high-value transaction and prevent tax evasion.