Finance Minister Shri Piyush Goyal
Finance minister Piyush Goyal on Friday Feb.1, 2019 presented the much awaited Union Budget in Lok Sabha. Goyal was appointed interim finance minister on January 23 with Arun Jaitley undergoing treatment in the United States. Here is a look at the main points of the Budget presented by Piyush Goyal Individual taxpayers with annual income up to 5 lakh rupees to get full tax rebate. Individuals with gross income up to 6.5 lakh rupees will not need to pay any tax if they make investments in provident funds and prescribed equities. Standard tax deduction for salaried persons raised from 40,000 rupees to 50,000 rupees. TDS threshold on rental income raised from 1.8 lakh to 2.4 lakh rupees. "Around 3 crore middle-class taxpayers will get tax exemption due to this measure," the finance minister said. Gratuity limit increased from 10 lakh to 30 lakh rupees. Benefit of rollover of capital tax gains to be increased from investment in one residential house to that in two residential houses, for a taxpayer having capital gains up to 2 crore rupees; can be exercised once in a lifetime. Benefits under Sec 80(i)BA being extended for one more year, for all housing projects approved till end of 2019-2020. "We are poised to become a 5 trillion dollar economy in the next five years, we aspire to become a 10 trillion dollar economy in the next eight years," Goyal said. Businesses with less than Rs. 5 crore annual turnover, comprising over 90% of GST payers, will be allowed to return quarterly returns. Direct tax collections from 6.38 lakh crore rupees in 2013-14 to almost 12 lakh crore rupees; tax base up from Rs 3.79 crore to Rs 6.85 crore. 99.54% returns have been accepted without any scrutiny. In January 2019, GST collections has crossed 1 lakh crore rupees. GST has been continuously
reduced, resulting in relief of 80,000 crore rupees to consumers; most items of daily use for poor and middle class are now in the 0%-5% tax bracket. Two per cent interest subvention on loan of 1 crore for GST registered MSME units. Group of Ministers examining how prospective house buyers can benefit under GST. GST is the undoubtedly the biggest taxation reform implemented since Independence; through tax consolidation, India became one common market; interstate movements became faster through e-way bills, improving Ease of Doing Business. Within almost two years, almost all assessment and verification of IT returns will be done electronically by an anonymized tax system without