Income Tax Slab for FY 2018-19 And AY 2019-20

News About Income Tax Slabs

• What is standard deduction?

  Standard deduction is basically a benefit that some income tax payers receive, irrespective of the investments made or the expenses they have incurred. In order to claim standard deduction, the assessee need not submit any proof or document.

  Based on Section 16 of the Income Tax Act 1961, a pensioner or salaried individual can claim standard deduction up to Rs.40,000. Standard deduction is available from the financial year 2018-19, and will be applicable from the assessment year 2019-2020.

  

  19 June 2018

• GST impact on FMCG: Beneficial, but contentious issues remain

  The fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) in India has grown from $31.6 billion in 2011 to $49 billion in 2016. The fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) is the fourth largest sector in the Indian economy. There are 3 main segments in this sector. They are- personal care products, healthcare products, and foods and beverages. The personal care products account for 50% of the entire sector. It is followed by healthcare products which consist of 31% and foods and beverages which consist of 19% of the sector.

  The sector is constantly growing. It is expected to grow at Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 20.6% by 2020. This will help the sector reach a worth of $103.7 billion. The fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) saw a growth of 14.8% from October 2017 to December 2017. The expected net revenue growth for the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) is 11.8% in Q4 March 2018. These statistics conclude that the sector has performed well under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime and has witnessed smooth transition.

  

  15 June 2018

• GST, demonetisation to improve tax collection, broaden tax base: Moody’s

  The New York-based investors service, the Moody’s Investors Service, said that the reformations brought in India recently, like Goods and Services Tax (GST) and demonetisation will widen the tax base in India and will help towards the improvement of tax collection in course of time.

  Moody’s Investor Service opined that the strong economic growth and stability in the fiscal regime of India will be able to support the effectiveness of the ongoing tax reforms and yield gains in spite of all the uncertainties that have been surrounding the reformations. The unified GST launched on 1 July 2017 had replaced the dual taxation model. The previous taxation model involved imposition of multiple levels of central and state government taxes and thus the ‘one nation, one tax’ was implemented.

  

  5 June 2018

• Complete Roll-Out: All states on e-way bill route by June 3

  The anti-evasion system under Goods and Service Tax (GST), popularly known as the e-way bill, will be implemented nationally in India very soon. 8 state governments have recently announced their plans of rolling out the e-way bill or electronic way bill system for transportation of goods within their geographical territory. Presently, e-way bills are required for interstate movement of goods worth Rs.50,000 or more. It is also applicable for intrastate movement of goods in 29 states/union territories. With effect from 1 June 2018, the generation of intrastate e-way bills will be compulsory for Chhattisgarh, Goa, Jammu and Kashmir, Mizoram, Odisha, and Punjab. Tamil Nadu and West Bengal are also implementing the same with effect from 2nd June and 3rd June, respectively.

  

  4 June 2018

• All the ITR Forms released for e-filing of income tax returns (ITR)

  As the 31st July deadline of filing the returns is nearing, the Income Tax Department (ITD) has launched and activated all the Income Tax Returns (ITR) forms for e-filing of income tax returns by taxpayers. The new ITR forms were notified by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) on 5th April, for the assessment year 2018-19. The forms have been launched by the CBDT gradually since 5th April. There are 7 ITR forms which are available on the official web portal of the Income Tax Department (ITD). These forms are to be filed by the taxpayers according to their eligibility. The 7 ITR forms are ITR- 1, ITR- 2, ITR- 3, ITR- 4, ITR- 5, ITR- 6, and ITR- 7. All the forms have to be filed electronically on the official web portal.

  

  30 May 2018

• Catering services provided to offices and industry canteens to attract 18% GST

  The Gujarat Authority for Advance Ruling (AAR) has ruled out that the food services provided to canteens at offices and factories will attract a GST of 18% instead of the prevalent rate of 5%. The AAR is of the opinion that the food services provided at the canteens of offices and factories would be taxable at the rate of 18% under the category of outdoor catering in terms of Sr.7(v) of Notification no. 11/2017 - Central Tax (Rate) dated 28.06.2017.

  Rashmi Hospitality Services Private Limited, a catering service that charges GST at 18% for the service they provide to various factory and industry canteens, considered the service to be an ‘outdoor catering service’. This is when the case was escalated to the AAR.

  

  28 May 2018

• GoM in Talks to Incentivise Consumers Making Digital GST Payments

  The Group of Ministers (GoM) in a panel led by Sushil Modi will be carrying out a detailed discussion on the impact of providing concessions in the tax rate. They also plan to study international best practices and the impact on the treasury. The ministers will be preparing for this meeting by collecting data on revenue implication and the various issues raised by different states.

  Prior to scheduling this meeting, the GST council met to discuss incentivizing cheque and digital payments by giving consumers a 2% concession in the GST rate in instances where the GST rate is 3% or more. The concession for each transaction would be limited to Rs.100.

  The discussion drew some concern from Amit Mitra, Finance Minister for West Bengal, who stated that those from low socioeconomic backgrounds might be at a disadvantage since they find cash payments more convenient. The GoM was required to submit their reports to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley within 15 days.

  

  24 May 2018

• Accounting Year 2018-19: How to file your income tax return using ITR Form-1 Sahaj

  The e-filing window for income tax returns was recently opened by the Income Tax Department (ITD) for the assessment year 2018-19. This window is open for individuals who are eligible to file the ITR Form-1 (Sahaj). Individuals eligible for filing the ITR Form-1 (Sahaj) are resident individuals who are earning income from salary or from house property or some other sources to the extent of Rs.50 lakh.

  Certain changes have been introduced to ITR Form-1 (Sahaj). They are as follows:

  • It is applicable to Residents only.
  • Complete breakup of the salary is required.
  • All details related to income from house property are to be mentioned.
  • If the ITR is filed after the due date, a fee is applicable under Section 234F.

  The ITR Form-1 (Sahaj) can be filed in one of the two following methods - Offline and Online.

  Offline:

  The ITR Form-1 can be filed offline in paper form and the Income Tax Department (ITD) will issue an acknowledgement against it. However, as per the income tax law, income tax return can be filed in paper form only by:

  1. Super senior citizens. That is people who are 80 years old and above.
  2. Individual/Hindu Undivided Family (HUF) who do not have claims for refund in their returns and whose income is up to Rs.5 lakh only.

  Online:

  The ITR Form-1 (Sahaj) can be filed online as well. You can consider one of the following options to do that:

  1. Preparing and submitting the return online.
  2. Uploading xml by using offline utilities.

  Both can be done by logging in to the official website incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in.

  

  22 May 2018

• India Surpasses the Trillion Mark in Tax Collection

  For the first time since the Goods and Services Tax came into being, India has reported a total collection of tax worth Rs.1 lakh crore.

  Of the total revenue that was earned solely for the month of April 2018, the Central GST amount stood at Rs.186.52 billion, the State GST stood at Rs.257.04 billion, and the Integrated GST stood at Rs.505.48 billion. The GST revenue is believed to foster even more as the Government starts tracking the movement of goods and services electronically.

  Multiple new features have also been introduced with the GST scheme. These features include matching of invoices with the improved version of the income tax return forms, revenue charge mechanism, and so on.

  

  18 May 2018

• Highest State GST Since July 2017

  The Goods and Services Tax has indeed been rendered easy for compliance for the general public, business owners, traders, and so on. However, despite all the efforts put in by the Government, a few sectors were finding it difficult to adhere to the norms of the Goods and Services Tax.

  This problem however ended quickly with the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax Network or GSTN. As a result of that, more and more taxpayers were identified by the Government and hence the problem of tax evasion felt like a thing of the past. Owing to that, the state Government has recently reported to have collected a total revenue of Rs.1021.32 crore.

  The last time SGST collections were this high was during the month of March when the total revenue stood at Rs.903.67 crore.

  

  17 May 2018