Indian Tax System
Indian Tax System
Indian Tax System
System -
An
Overview
Central Government
levies taxes on
income (except tax on agricultural income, which the State Governments can levy), customs duties,
Central Goods & Services tax (CGST) & Integrated Goods & Services Tax (IGST).
State Good & Services Tax (SGST), stamp duty, state excise, land revenue and profession tax are
levied by the State Governments.
Local bodies are empowered to levy tax on properties, octroi and for utilities like water supply,
drainage etc.
Indian taxation system has undergone tremendous reforms during 2017. The multiple
indirect taxes have been subsumed in the new Good & Services Tax which was
implemented from 1st July 2017. With the implementation of GST almost 17 types of indirect
taxes have been abolished making the indirect tax compliance much easier and free from
bureaucracy. The government introduced Goods
and Services Tax (GST) in 2017 which is the most Direct Tax Indirect Tax
important tax reform in independent India till date.
Earlier, governments levied various state and central
Income Tax GST
taxes for availing various services or buying different
goods. The taxation was complex and contradicting
Securities
rules enabled some people to evade taxes through Transaction Excise Duty
loopholes in the system. After the introduction of Tax
DIRECT TAXES
In case of direct taxes (income tax, securities transaction tax, etc.), the burden directly falls on the
taxpayer.
INCOME TAX
According to Income Tax Act 1961, every person, who is an assessee and whose total income
exceeds the maximum exemption limit, shall be chargeable to the income tax at the rate or rates
prescribed in the Finance Act. Such income tax shall be paid on the total income of the previous year
in the relevant assessment year.
Assessee means a person by whom (any tax) or any other sum of money is payable under the
Income Tax Act, and includes -
a) Every person in respect of whom any proceeding under the Income Tax Act has been taken
for the assessment of his income or of the income of any other person in respect of which he
is assessable, or of the loss sustained by him or by such other person, or of the amount of
refund due to him or to such other person;
b) Every person who is deemed to be an assessee under any provisions of the Income Tax Act;
c) Every person who is deemed to be an assessee in default under any provision of the Income
Tax Act.
A person includes:
Individual
Hindu Undivided Family (HUF)
Association of persons (AOP)
Body of individuals (BOI)
Company
Firm
A local authority and,
Every artificial judicial person not falling within any of the preceding categories.
Income tax is an annual tax imposed separately for each assessment year (also called the tax year).
Assessment year commences from 1st April and ends on the next 31st March.
The total income of an individual is determined on the basis of his residential status in India. For tax
purposes, an individual may be resident, non-resident or not ordinarily resident.
Resident
An individual is treated as resident in a year if
present in India:
1. For 182 days during the year or;
2. For 60 days during the year and 365 days
during the preceding four years. Individuals
fulfilling neither of these conditions are non
residents. (The rules are slightly more
liberal for Indian citizens residing abroad or
leaving India for employment abroad.)
Non-Residents
Non-residents are
taxed only on
income that is
received in India or
arises or is deemed
to arise in India. A
person not ordinarily
resident is taxed like a non-resident but is also liable to tax on income accruing abroad if it is from a
business controlled in or a profession set up in India.
Non-resident Indians (NRIs) are not required to file a tax return if their income consists of only interest
and dividends, provided taxes due on such income are deducted at source. It is possible for non-
resident Indians to avail of these special provisions even after becoming residents by following certain
procedures laid down by the Income Tax act.
Personal income tax is levied by Central Government and is administered by Central Board of Direct
taxes under Ministry of Finance in accordance with the provisions of the Income Tax Act.
If the Permanent Account Number (PAN) of the deductee is not quoted, the rate of WHT will be the
rate specified in relevant provisions of the Income Tax Act, the rates in force, or the rate of 20%,
whichever is higher.
Dividend 20
Long-term capital gains other than equity shares of a company or units of an equity- 20
oriented fund/business trust on which STT is paid
Other income 40
What is PAN?
PAN stands for Permanent Account Number. PAN is a ten-digit unique alphanumeric number issued
by the Indian Income Tax Department to all tax payers and act as unique identification number for all
tax payers in the country. Its format is like ALWP-C-5809-L
What is TAN?
Tax Deduction Account Number or Tax Collection Account Number is a 10-digit alphanumeric number
issued by the Income-tax Department (we will refer to it as TAN). TAN is to be obtained by all persons
who are responsible for deducting withholding taxes (TDS) or who are required to collect tax at source
(TCS)
CORPORATE TAX
Definition of a company
A company has been defined as a juristic person
having an independent and separate legal entity from
its shareholders. Income of the company is computed
and assessed separately in the hands of the
company. However the income of the company,
which is distributed to it s shareholders as dividend, is
assessed in their individual hands. Such distribution
of income is not treated as expenditure in the hands of company; the income so distributed is an
appropriation of the profits of the company.
Residence of a company
A company is said to be a resident in India during the relevant previous year if:
It is an Indian company
If it is not an Indian company but, the control and the management of its affairs is situated wholly
in India
A company is said to be non-resident in India if it is not an Indian company and some part of the
control and management of its affairs is situated outside India.
In such case, although the companies were showing book profits and declaring dividends to the
shareholders, they were not paying any income tax. These companies are popularly known as Zero
Tax companies. In order to bring such companies under the income tax act net, section 115JA was
introduced w.e.f assessment year 1997-98.
A new tax credit scheme is introduced by which MAT paid can be carried forward for set-off against
regular tax payable during the subsequent five year period subject to certain conditions, as under:-
When a company pays tax under MAT, the tax credit earned by it shall be an amount, which
is the difference between the amount payable under MAT and the regular tax. Regular tax in
this case means the tax payable on the basis of normal computation of total income of the
company.
MAT credit will be allowed carry forward facility for a period of five assessment years
immediately succeeding the assessment year in which MAT is paid. Unabsorbed MAT credit
will be allowed to be accumulated subject to the five-year carry forward limit.
In the assessment year when regular tax becomes payable, the difference between the
regular tax and the tax computed under MAT for that year will be set off against the MAT
credit available.
At present the base rate of MAT is 18.50% subject to Education cess of 3% and
surcharge if book profit exceeds threshold limits as enumerated above.
The tax shall be deposited within 14 days from the date of declaration, distribution or payment of
dividend, whichever is earliest. Failing to this deposition will require payment of stipulated interest for
every month of delay under Section115-P of the Act.
Rate of dividend distribution tax for the current financial year is 20.555% (Net)
EQUALISATION LEVY
Action Plan 1 (Digital Economy) of the OECD’s BEPS project discussed several options to tackle
direct tax challenges in the digital environment. Taking cues from this, an equalisation levy is
available, the summary of which is as follows:
Exemption from income tax: The income arising to the non-resident from the specified
service and chargeable to an equalisation levy will be exempt from income tax.
Due date for deposit: 7th day of the following month.
Non-applicability in specified cases: Equalisation levy will not be charged in the following
cases:
o the non-resident providing specified service has a PE in India and the specified
service is effectively connected with the PE
o the aggregate consideration received or receivable in the previous year by the non-
resident does not exceed INR 100,000, or
o the payment for the specified service by the Indian resident or PE is not for
conducting business or a profession in India.
Domestic companies are permitted to deduct dividends received from other domestic companies in
certain cases.
Liberal deductions are allowed for exports and the setting up on new industrial undertakings
under certain circumstances.
There are liberal deductions for setting up enterprises engaged in developing, maintaining
and operating new infrastructure facilities and power-generating units.
Business losses can be carried forward for eight years, and unabsorbed depreciation can be
carried indefinitely. No carry back is allowed.
Dividends, interest and long-term capital gain income earned by an infrastructure fund or
company from investments in shares or long-term finance in enterprises carrying on the business of
developing, monitoring and operating specified infrastructure facilities or in units of mutual funds
involved with the infrastructure of power sector is proposed to be tax exempt.
Capital gain also includes gain that arises on "transfer" (includes sale, exchange) of a capital asset
and is categorized into short-term gains and long-term gains.
The capital gains tax is different from almost all other forms of taxation in that it is a voluntary tax.
Since the tax is paid only when an asset is sold, taxpayers can legally avoid payment by holding on to
their assets--a phenomenon known as the "lock-in effect."
The scope of capital asset is being widened by including certain items held as personal effects such
as archaeological collections, drawings, paintings, sculptures or any work of art. Presently no capital
gain tax is payable in respect of transfer of personal effects as it does not fall in the definition of the
capital asset.
To restrict the misuse of this provision, the definition of capital asset is being widened to include those
personal effects such as archaeological collections, drawings, paintings, sculptures or any work of art.
Transfer of above items shall now attract capital gain tax the way jewellery attracts despite being
personal effect as on date.
As per source of income rule, the income may be subject to tax in the country where the source of
such income exists (i.e. where the business establishment is situated or where the asset / property is
located) whether the income earner is a resident in that country or not.
On the other hand, the income earner may be taxed on the basis of the residential status in that
country. For example, if a person is resident of a country, he may have to pay tax on any income
earned outside that country as well.
Further, some countries may follow a mixture
of the above two rules. Thus, problem of
double taxation arises if a person is taxed in
respect of any income on the basis of source
of income rule in one country and on the
basis of residence in another country or on
the basis of mixture of above two rules.
outside India. The position in many other countries being also broadly similar, it frequently happens
that a person may be found to be a resident in more than one country or that the same item of his
income may be treated as accruing, arising or received in more than one country with the result that
the same item becomes liable to tax in more than one country.
Relief against such hardship can be provided mainly in two ways: (a) Bilateral relief, (b) Unilateral
relief.
Bilateral Relief
The Governments of two countries can enter into Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) to
provide relief against such Double Taxation, worked out on the basis of mutual agreement between
the two concerned sovereign states. This may be called a scheme of 'bilateral relief' as both
concerned powers agree as to the basis of the relief to be granted by either of them.
Unilateral relief
The above procedure for granting relief will not be sufficient to meet all cases. No country will be in a
position to arrive at such agreement with all the countries of the world for all time. The hardship of the
taxpayer however is a crippling one in all such cases. Some relief can be provided even in such cases
by home country irrespective of whether the other country concerned has any agreement with India or
has otherwise provided for any relief at all in respect of such double taxation. This relief is known as
unilateral relief.
INDIRECT TAX
GOODS AND SERVICE TAX (GST)
Introduction of GST is a very significant step in the field of indirect tax reforms in India. By
amalgamating a large number of Central and State taxes into a single tax and allowing set-off of prior-
stage taxes, it has mitigated the ill effects of cascading and pave the way for a common national
market.
GST is a value-added tax levied at all points in the supply chain with credit allowed for any tax paid on
input acquired for use in making the supply. It would apply to both goods and services in a
comprehensive manner, with exemptions restricted to a minimum.
GST has been envisaged as an efficient tax system, neutral in its application and distribution
attractive.
Wider tax base, necessary for lowering tax rates and eliminating classification disputes
Harmonization of center and state tax administrations, which would reduce duplication and
compliance costs
Services 18%
EXCISE DUTY
Central Excise duty is an indirect tax levied on goods manufactured in India. Excisable goods have
been defined as those, which have been specified in the Central Excise Tariff Act as being subjected
to the duty of excise. With the implementation of GST from 1st July 2017, scope of excise duty is
limited to very few products which are not under the purview of GST, viz, High Speed Diesel,
Petroleum products.
There are three types of Central Excise duties collected in India namely:
CUSTOMS DUTY
Custom or import
duties are levied by the
Central Government of
India on the goods
imported into India.
The rate at which
customs duty is
leviable on the goods
depends on the
classification of the
goods determined
under the Customs
Tariff. The Customs
Tariff is generally
aligned with the
Harmonised System of Nomenclature (HSN).
In line with aligning the customs duty and bringing it at par with the ASEAN level, government has
reduced the peak customs duty from 12.5 per cent to 10 per cent for all goods other than agriculture
products. However, the Central Government has the power to generally exempt goods of any
specified description from the whole or any part of duties of customs liveable thereon. In addition,
preferential/concessional rates of duty are also available under the various Trade Agreements.
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