What are the High tides of Union Budget 2019
The Union Budget 2019 was presented on 5th July 2019 in the parliament by the honorable Finance Minister of India Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman.
The Budget Session had begun with the optimistic mantra of Reform, Perform & Transform India.
This has surely given a ray of hope to 135 million Indians who were keyed up about the maiden budget of the Modi 2.0 Government, which has been presented by the first woman Finance Minister of India.
The Budget 2019 has spilled beans on various developmental reforms concerning various sectors of economy viz. Agriculture, MSME, Rural and Urban Development and transportation, etc.
Here are some positive changes introduced by the government in the Union Budget 2019.
Her Excellency Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman has expressed her sincere thanks to the honest and responsible taxpayers of India because of whom the Direct Tax collection has stood at ₹11.37 lakh crores in FY2018-19.
With that, she has presented various sweeping measures with respect to Direct Tax:
- The threshold limit for turnover of Companies to pay Corporate Profit Tax @25% has been raised from ₹250 crores to ₹400 crores. Now companies with a turnover above ₹400 crores will have to pay Corporate Profit Tax. Yet, the new threshold will cover nearly 99.3% of companies in India.
- However, Income Tax deduction on loan is taken for the purchase of the electric vehicle has been raised to ₹1.5 lakh.
- Additional deduction of ₹1.5 lakh for interest on loans borrowed for housing STT change.
- For Income Tax Return filing, PAN and Aadhaar card are now Interchangeable. This means that now an individual can also file his Income Tax Returns using his Aadhaar card if he has no PAN card.
- 3% surcharge shall be charged on the income above ₹2 crore.
- 7% surcharge shall be charged on the income ₹5 crore and above.
- TDS @2% shall be charged on drawings up to ₹1 crore from your bank account in the previous year for the purpose of business payments.
- There will be Faceless E-assessment for Income Tax Scrutiny. Hence, now there's no need to make a personal visit to the CA in case of Tax Audit, as this may be done online.
#2. GST reforms
Many reforms have been made for the traders having GST registration. Some of the reforms are as below:
- GST rates on electric vehicles are reduced from 12% to 5%.
- ₹350 crore has been allocated for 2% interest concession on fresh or incremental loans to all MSMEs having GST registration.
- New GST return filing model to be made effective from 1st October 2019.
#3. Other Indirect tax reforms
Besides GST rate changes, the government has also made changes in Custom duty on various goods. The Custom duty changes are given below-
- Customs duty has been raised on fuel by ₹1. As a result, Petrol & diesel will get costlier.
- Customs duty has been raised on gold and precious items from 10%-12.5%. These will get costlier.
- Here are a few other goods where Customs Duty has been raised:
- Tiles & vinyl flooring,
- cashews,
- Auto spare parts,
- Some synthetic rubbers,
- Digital & video recorder and CCTV cameras
- Imported books.
#4. Affordable housing
As a part of the mission towards assuring affordable housing for all Indians by 2022, the Government has taken significant steps as mentioned below-
- Old PSU property shall be acquired for building 1.95 crore new affordable houses.
- Government has granted additional ₹1.5 lakh tax relief on home loans taken for the purchase of affordable houses up to ₹45 lacs under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. This deduction shall be available on the home loans taken up to 31st March 2020.
- The tax deduction that can be claimed for interest payment on loans for affordable houses is now increased to ₹3.5 lakh per annum. This will give a total benefit of ₹7 lakh for over a loan period of 15 years.
#5. Boosting Digital payments
With a view to boosting digital payments, the MDR charges have been waived off on cashless online payment. So now, there no charge will be deducted on the digital payments.
#6. Women Entrepreneurship
With the optimistic notion of Naari Tu Naraayani, Government has introduced Women SHG Interest Subvention Programme, which will be expanded to all districts of India.
- Under this scheme, business loan of ₹1 lakh shall be provided for women running Self Help Groups (SHG) under Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana.
- Besides, all verified women who are SHG members and have a PM Jan Dhan account can now avail ₹5,000/- overdraft facility.
#7. Pension for Retailers
Not to forget, the Union budget 2019 has brought in a new Pension scheme for the Retailer shopkeepers of India. This is named as Karmyogi Mandhan Yojana, wherein over 3 crore Retail shopkeepers in India shall be provided pension benefits. This scheme has been framed in line with previous year’s Shramyogi Mandhan Yojana for unorganized workers.
So, these are the key highlights of the Union Budget.
If you need any guidance on GST registration, or Income tax return filing, feel free to contact our business advisors at 8881-069-069.
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