India Budget 2021- Takeaways

Budget 2021 gave a huge thumbs up to the Healthcare and the Infrastructure sector, which is inevitable for any economy to thrive. The best part of the budget was that there were almost no negative points and the motto seems to build on various measures which were undertaken for almost a year now while fighting COVID and other challenges. No COVID cess and no tweaking on the LTCG front seems to be big decisions.

Few important takeaways are the following-

1. The Tax Audit limit under Section 44AB has been increased from Rs.10 crores to Rs.5 crores where 95% of business transactions are done in digital mode.
2. The deduction for PF amount, which is collected from the employees will be available to the employer only and only when the same is deposited.
3. Deduction for interest on housing loans under section 80EEA is to be extended to loans taken up to 31st March 2022. It is to be noted that the threshold is provided for the amount of housing loan to have this deduction availed.
4. Now, capital gains, dividend incomes and interest income will also be pre-filled in the ITR, apart from salary, tax payments and TDS .
5. The time limit to re-open income tax assessment cases has been reduced to 3 years from 6 years at present. Also, in case of serious tax evasion, the assessment can be reopened until 10 years, only when concealment of income is more than 50 lakh and approved by top most officer in the Income Tax Office and clear evidence of concealment of income. This will help in reducing the number of litigations and help in closing the assessments faster.
6. The deadline for the Vivad Se Vishwas scheme has been extended to 28.02.2021 which has already been widely well accepted by the taxpayers considering the wide ranging benefits it provides.
7. Dispute Resolution Committee will be set up to reduce litigations for small taxpayers.
8. Faceless Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) for providing online resolution. The manner and the speed in which digital means is acknowledged nowadays, faceless assessments is way to go.
9. No changes in the Income Tax slab for Salaried individuals. This is something which Budget has missed out in addressing long pending demands of the Salaried individuals with respect to increase in limit of Interest on housing loan, 80C, etc.
10. Interest earned on annual PF contribution over Rs. 2.5 Lakh will be taxable from April 2021.

Overall, the budget seems to build resilient India and move on the path of "Atmanirbhar Bharat". The way India is being acknowledged all over the world in the fight against COVID is remarkably incredible. Glories to India and the Government of India.