Rs 6416 Cr Paid By 2 Lakh New Taxpayers; GST Will Be Simplified For SMEs, Small Businesses!
Govt. has also doubled import duty on 300+ textile products.
Demonetisation and tax reforms initiated by the Modi Govt. is working, and we now have concrete numbers coming in regarding the same.
As per fresh data revealed by the Govt., more than 2 lakh new taxpayers have entered the tax-net, and they have collectively deposited more than Rs 6000 crore to the Income Tax Dept.
Who are these new faces? We will soon share the details.
Meanwhile Govt. has put forward several bills, which aim to simplify GST for SMEs and small businesses. Read on to get full details!
Tax Reforms: 2 Lakh New Taxpayers!
In a written reply in Rajya Sabha, Minister of state (finance) Shiv Pratap Shukla has informed that during FY2018, 2 lakh new taxpayers have collectively deposited Rs 6416 crore with the Income Tax Dept.
These new taxpayers were actually non-filers, but their names were revealed during demonetisation drive, when they deposited their cash with various banks.
During demonetisation drive, IT Dept. had sent notices to 3.04 lakh people, who had deposited more than Rs 10 lakh. As a result of these notices, 2 lakh non-filers became taxpayers.
The reply said, “As a result, returns were filed by 2.09 lakh of such identified non-filers who have paid self assessment tax of ?6,416 crore,”
The reply also revealed some interesting facts related with action taken by Enforcement Directorate under Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 after demonetisation:
- Direct tax collection increased by 18% to reach Rs 10.03 trillion
- Personal advance tax and personal self-assessment tax increased by 23.4% and 29.9%, respectively.
- Rs 144 crore worth of benami properties were seized
- 7.5 kgs of Gold was seized
- More than 18 people were arrested
GST To Be Simplified
After removing more than 25% of goods from the top tax bracket, Govt. has plans to make GST even simpler, and easier.
Finance Minister Piyush Goyal has tabled several bills in the Lok Sabha, which if passed, will make the process of GST filings even more simpler.
These bills are: The Central GST (Amendment) Bill, Integrated GST (Amendment) Bill, GST (Compensation to States) Amendment Bill and Union Territory GST (Amendment) Bill.
In a related news, Govt. has now doubled import tax duty on 328 textile products.
This move has been made to stop textile imports from China, which are harming local manufacturers and artisans.
Minister of State for Finance Pon Radhakrishnan tabled the amendments under Section 159 of the Customs Act, 1962, which has now made import duty as 20%, up from 10%.
We will keep you updated, as more details come in.
