Direct taxes to be simplified within 45 days

By siliconindia   |   Tuesday, 07 July 2009, 21:28 IST   |    1 Comments
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Direct taxes to be simplified within 45 days
Bangalore: In order to simplify the tax structure, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has announced to bring out Direct Taxes Code shortly. "I propose to pursue the structural changes in direct taxes by releasing a new Direct Taxes Code within the next 45 days," Mukherjee said while unveiling the Union Budget for 2009-10. The Direct Taxes Code Bill, which will eventually replace the Income Tax Act, 1961 and other tax laws, will be introduced in the Lok Sabha during the winter session. Noting that the tax reform is a process and not an event, Mukherjee said that the government would release a discussion paper on direct taxes code for public debate. "The government will finalize the Direct Taxes Code Bill only after receiving the inputs," added Mukherjee. Meanwhile, on the structural changes in indirect taxes, the minister promised to speed up the process for implementing Goods and Services Tax (GST) by April 1, 2010. The GST, a new indirect tax regime, would do away with most of the indirect taxes and d has a dual structure. The two components would be central GST and the states GST.