New Delhi, Feb 1: The salaried class, part of the urban educated electorate -- a section of society which successive surveys and poll results have shown to be ardent supporters of the Narendra Modi regime -- also held key expectations from the Union Budget for 2018-19. As Finance minister tables the Union Budget, people of India are eagerly waiting to know its impact on Income Tax exemption & rates and whether there will be new IT tax slab introduced to lower the burden on salaried class. We will bring key highlights from the Finance Ministers speech below:
FM Jaitley: In section 80D the limit for senior citizen has been increased to Rs. 50,000 and Deduction u/s 80DDB to be increased from Rs. 60,000 to Rs. 1,00,000.
FM Jaitley: Standard Deduction of ₹40,000 in lieu of Transport and Medical reimbursements for salaried individuals, while no change in existing tax rates.
FM Jaitley: No Change in Income Tax Slab for Salaried Individuals!
FM Jaitley: 100% tax deduction for the first 5 years to companies registered as farmer producer companies with a turnover of INR 100Cr and above
What the salaried class had demanded
For those at the initial rungs of their career, a demand was being made to increase the tax exemption limit from Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 3 lakh per annum. The demand was validated by a recent SBI report, which said factors like the 7th Pay Commission has increased the disposable income, which requires the government to raise the tax exemption limit.
Amendments in Section 80C of the Income Tax Act were sought to raise the tax reduction limits. At present, a maximum of Rs 2 lakh could be claimed as tax reduction via various allowances. The I-T payers had demanded the government to increase the limit to upto Rs 2.5 lakh per annum.
A similar demand was made to raise the clams of medical reimbursement -- Rs 15,000 at present -- and the Leave Travel Allowance.
Participants of the Deloitte Tax Survey 2018 said the tax rebate of Rs 2,00,000 granted to home buyers should be increased to Rs 3,50,000, considering the level of inflation.
Tax benefits on annual income were also sought by the women and senior citizens, as per the Deloitte survey.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 01, 2018 12:31 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).