Union Budget 2019: Sitharaman announces reforms for industries, start-ups
Thanking all taxpayers in her first budget speech on Friday, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said direct tax collection went up by over 78% from 2014 to 2019. Further, Sitharaman announced that only 25% corporate tax will be levied on companies having an annual turnover of up to Rs. 400 crore. "This will cover 99.3% of all companies," Sitharaman said amid loud cheers.
Start-ups which furnish documents won't be scrutinized, announced Sitharaman
One of the longstanding demands of start-ups has been the abolishment of angel tax, and Sitharaman paid attention to their pleas. Start-ups and investors who file requisite documents won't be subject to any kind of scrutiny, she said. "A mechanism of e-verification will be put in place and with this, the funds raised by start-ups will not require any tax scrutiny," Sitharaman added.
Super rich will have to pay more tax
To bring more people under tax ambit, Sitharaman announced that PAN card is not mandatory for filing income tax returns. The same can be done using Aadhaar cards too. Further, she said super rich will have to pay more income tax. From this year, those whose annual income falls between Rs. 2 crore and Rs. 5 crore will have to pay 3% more tax. A 7% surcharge was announced on those earning more than Rs. 5 crore annually.
