The Union Cabinet has cleared the Direct Tax Code bill, which means nothing other than it will actually be cleared by December if it’s tabled on Monday, and that means sometime in the next decade it might actually happen.
The DTC simplifies tax slabs. Upto 2 lakhs, nothing, it seems. 2 to 5 lakhs, 10%, 5 to 10L, 20% and above 10L, 30%. Nothing earth shattering – the current limits are 1.6, 5 and 8 Lakhs.
Corporate tax goes to 30%. From 33%. That’s nice. MAT for those fellows not paying tax is 20% of book profits.
PF is exempt from tax, or so they say, but the rest get taxed EET. Dividend distribution tax stays the same. Life Insurance payments and mutual fund income gets a 10% TDS. (10% of what? We don’t know).
I don’t know if STT is out. I don’t know what happens to various random exemptions. I don’t know I can’t really say until I see the full bill – everyone’s taking data from an interview of the Finance Minister, where it’s likely there weren’t enough questions asked or answered. Anyone have a copy?
