Hyderabad / New Delhi, July 24 (FN Bureau) Additional Commissioner of Income Tax (Range-9, Hyderabad), Rahul singhania on Wednesday said that the income tax collection cost in the country is lowest in the world. Addressing a post-Union Budget 2024-25 analysis session organized by the Federation of Telangana Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FTCCI) here, Rahul said now the tax cost of Income Tax collection has come down to less than ten paise. The Income Tax Department spends just less than 10 paise on collecting every INR 100 Tax Collected, he said The Gross collection of Direct Taxes for the Financial Year 2023-24 stood at around Rs. 22,27,067 crore, he said that over the years, the collection of tax has gone up many folds.
Voluntary disclosures, Faceless Filing, Ease of Filing etc and many added to the increased collection of the taxes. But the cost of collection of the tax has not gone up, he added. Principal Commissioner of Income (Tax-4) Danda Srinivas while briefing his broad view of the budget, said it is a non-adversarial tax regime (working together cooperatively to reach the best resolution for everyone). Highlighting some of the key highlights of the budget, he said Today is the Income Tax Day and it is our 165th Income Tax Day. This day commemorates the historical evolution of tax administration in India and the ongoing reforms that aim to enhance tax compliance and simplify the process for taxpayers. On this day, Income tax was first levied as a duty in India in 1860. The vision of the Income Tax Department (ITD) is to be a partner in the nation-building process through progressive tax policy, and efficient and effective tax, he said. Over so many years of tedious income tax filing, we have transformed into simplified and faceless filing, he informed and said that the key thing here is a simplification of everything.
The days of coercive tax collection are over. It is mostly voluntary filing and compliance, he said that the cost of tax collection has fallen over the years. He has asked people to file returns correctly. FTCCI President Suresh Kumar Singhal, said the objective of Post Union Budget Analysis was to guide manufacturers, service providers, professional exporters, importers, entrepreneurs and others from trade, commerce and industry on the key aspects of the policy initiatives and the Direct and Indirect Tax proposals in the budget, and economic perspective on the budget as well. CA Sudhir, Chairman Direct Taxes Committee said the budget presented yesterday focused on strengthening the abilities of all Indians to seize opportunities in the journey towards a ‘Viksit Bharat’ Irshad Ahmed, Chairman of GST & Customs Committee of FTCCI said the tax incidence on the common man has come down, but the compliance burden has gone up and it is increasing. We expected that the standard 18 percent of GST may come down, but that has not happened, he said. The GST on petrol has been a contentious issue since the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) law in India. Certain developments in the recent past have led us to believe that the GST Council may decide to charge GST on petrol and petroleum products, diesel and electricity, he added.