Stress on dignity of honest taxpayer is the biggest reform

Inaugurates Office-cum-Residential Complex of Cuttack Bench of Income Tax Appellate Tribunal Posted On: 11 NOV 2020 6:09PM by PIB Delhi

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi inaugurated Office-cum-Residential Complex of Cuttack Bench of Income Tax Appellate Tribunal through video conference today. Speaking on the occasion, the Prime Minister said this bench would now provide modern facilities not only to Odisha, but to millions of taxpayers of Eastern and North Eastern India and help in disposing off all the pending cases in this region.

The Prime Minister said today, the country is moving from Tax Terrorism to Tax Transparency. He added that this change has come due to the approach of Reform, Perform and Transform. He said rules and procedures are being reformed with the help of technology. He said “We are performing with clear intentions and at the same time transforming the mindset of the tax administration.”

The Prime Minister said when the difficulties of the country's wealth creator are reduced, they get protection, then their trust grows in the country's systems. He added the result of this growing trust is that more and more partners are coming forward to join the tax system for the development of the country. The Prime Minister remarked that along with the reduction of tax and simplicity in the process, the biggest reforms that have been done are related to the dignity of honest taxpayers, to protect them from trouble.

The Prime Minister said the thought process in the government is to trust the income tax return completely at first after being filed. As a result of this, 99.75 percent of the returns filed in the country today are accepted without any objection. He said it is a big change in the country's tax system.

Shri Modi said the long period of slavery had made the relationship between tax payer and the tax collector that of exploited and exploiters. Quoting Goswami Tulsidas “बरसत हरसत सब लखें, करसत लखे न कोय तुलसी प्रजा सुभाग से, भूप भानु सो होय” meaning when clouds rain, the benefit is visible to all of us; but when clouds are formed, the sun absorbs the water but does not cause inconvenience to anyone, the Prime Minister said governance should not cause inconvenience when collecting tax from the common people; but when that money reaches the citizens, then people should feel its benefits in their lives.

He said over the years, the government has moved ahead with this vision and today's taxpayer is witnessing huge changes and transparency in the entire tax system. He said when the taxpayer does not have to wait months for a refund and gets a refund within a few weeks, then he feels transparency. When he sees that the department has resolved the age-old dispute on its own, then he feels transparency. When he enjoys faceless appeal, then he feels tax transparency. When he sees that income tax is continuously decreasing, then he feels more tax transparency.

The Prime Minister attributed zero tax on income up to Rs 5 lakh in the country as a huge benefit being given to our youth of lower middle class today. He added that the new option of income tax given in the budget this year, has simplified the lives of the taxpayer. He said to speed up the pace of development and make India more investment friendly a historic cut has been made in corporate tax.

He said the tax rate for new domestic manufacturing companies has been set at 15 percent for the country to become self-sufficient in manufacturing. He added Dividend Distribution Tax has also been scrapped to increase investment in India's equity market. GST has also reduced the tax net and the tax rate in most goods and services has also come down. He said ease of doing business has improved in the country as a result of reducing the burden of disputes by increasing the limit of appeal from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 50 lakh in ITAT and to Rs 2 crore in Supreme Court.

The Ministry of Agriculture along with Central Institute of Horticulture, Nagaland organized today a virtual meeting on ‘Value Chain Creation for Kiwi fruit – Farm to Fork’ keeping in mind the popularity of the fruit due to its tremendous commercial potential. The meeting was chaired by the Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar in presence of Minister of State for Agriculture, Shri Parshottam Rupala, Secretary, Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and other officials of the Ministry and State of Nagaland.

Addressing the gathering, the Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar said that the entire North East due to difficult terrain is lagging behind and all Ministries including Agriculture Ministry are working towards ensuring a progressive North East. He said that this lag needs to be removed and can only be done through a comprehensive vision along with stable policy planning and balanced growth across the region as envisioned by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi.

Shri Tomar stated that the Himalayan Sub - Temperature climate is suitable for Kiwi production and there is a need to introduce high yielding cultivars. With extensive research and development support, the commercial cultivation of Kiwi fruit has been extended from the Sub - Himalayan Regions of India to the mid hills of Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Nilgiri Hills. Presently, India is producing 13,000 MT of Kiwi in an area of about 4,000 Ha in Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram and Himachal Pradesh.

India currently imports 4,000 tonnes of Kiwis from New Zealand, Italy and Chile. Shri Tomar said that to strengthen Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s vision and mission of creating an Atmanirbhar Bharat, the Ministry of Agriculture is trying to provide handholding support to Kiwi farmers across the country. This is also in line with the call of ‘Vocal for Local’ which will help in reducing dependence on imports and building a sustainable market for locally produced Kiwi fruit variants.

A meeting of the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) was held today. The IFSC Authority, after detailed deliberations, approved the International Financial Services Centres Authority (Banking) Regulations, 2020.

Banking constitutes one of the major focus areas of IFSC and is expected to drive and facilitate the other constituent operations in the IFSC in due course. A self-contained regulation laying down the major principles of banking operations at IFSCs is thus an important step in the IFSC reaching its desired potential.

The Authority approved the draft banking regulations at its meeting today, which paves the way for putting in place the rules for the various aspects of banking operations that would be permissible at the IFSC.

The salient aspects of the Banking Regulations include: Laying down the requirements for setting up IFSC Banking Units (IBUs) Permitting persons resident outside India (having net worth not less than USD 1 Million) to open foreign currency accounts in any freely convertible currency at IFSC Banking Units (IBUs)

Permitting persons resident in India (having net worth not less than USD 1 Million) to open foreign currency accounts in any freely convertible currency at IFSC Banking Units (IBUs) to undertake any permissible current account or capital account transaction or any combination thereof under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) of the Reserve Bank of India.

Laying down the permissible activities of IBUs including credit enhancement, credit insurance, and sale , purchase of portfolios, engage in factoring and forfaiting of export receivables and undertake equipment leasing, including aircraft leasing

Permitting the Authority to determine business that a Banking Unit may be permitted to conduct in INR with persons resident in India and persons resident outside India, subject to settlement of the financial transaction in relation to such business in freely convertible foreign currency.