Skip to main content

Government initiates work on shifting financial year to January-December

By

The government has initiated the spadework for shifting the financial year to January, from April, to align it with the agriculture production cycle.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had backed the idea of January-December financial year last month while addressing chief ministers at the Governing Council of NITI Aayog.Preliminary work has started and it will gather momentum as year progresses, sources said.
 
The GST implementation from July 1 is also an indication in that direction, sources said, adding that it is being implemented beginning second half of the calender year.
 
The government had last year set-up a high-level committee to study the feasibility of shifting financial year to January 1 from the current practice of starting it from April 1.
 
The committee submitted its report in December, reasoning for the change and its effect on the different agricultural crop periods and its impact on businesses, taxation system and procedures, statistics and data collection.
 
Modi had said that in a country where agricultural income is exceedingly important, budgets should be prepared immediately after the receipt of agricultural incomes for the year.
 
There have been suggestions to follow January to December as financial year, he had said, urging states to take the initiative in this regard.
 
Following the Prime Minister's statement, Madhya Pradesh became the first state to change the budget cycle to January- December from the existing  April-March. 
 
Earlier this year, the government advanced the Budget presentation by a month to February 1 with view to completing the legislative approval for annual spending plans and tax proposals before beginning of the new financial year. As a result, public expenditure started from April 1.
 
Till last year, the Budget was presented on the last day of February and it used to be passed by Parliament by mid-May. And with the monsoon arriving in June, most of the schemes and spendings by state did not take off until October, leaving just half a year for their implementation.
 
The government also scrapped nearly century-long practice of having a separate railway budget and instead merged it with the general budget.
 
It had also decided to scrap a distinction between plan and non-plan expenditures as the classification resulted in excessive focus on former with almost equivalent neglect to items such as maintenance which are classified as non-Plan.
 
The Economic Times New Delhi, 22nd May 2017

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

New income tax slab and rates for new tax regime FY 2023-24 (AY 2024-25) announced in Budget 2023

By
  Basic exemption limit has been hiked to Rs.3 lakh from Rs 2.5 currently under the new income tax regime in Budget 2023. Further, the income tax slabs in the new tax regime has been changed. According to the announcement, 5 income tax slabs will be there in FY 2023-24, from 6 income tax slabs currently. A rebate under Section 87A has been enhanced under the new tax regime; from the current income level of Rs.5 lakh to Rs.7 lakh. Thus, individuals opting for the new income tax regime and having an income up to Rs.7 lakh will not pay any taxes   The income tax slabs under the new income tax regime will now be as follows: Rs 0 to Rs 3 lakh - 0% tax rate Rs 3 lakh to 6 lakh - 5% Rs 6 lakh to 9 lakh - 10% Rs 9 lakh to Rs 12 lakh - 15% Rs 12 lakh to Rs 15 lakh - 20% Above Rs 15 lakh - 30%   The revised Income tax slabs under new tax regime for FY 2023-24 (AY 2024-25)   Income tax slabs under new tax regime Income tax rates under new tax regime O to Rs 3 lakh 0 Rs 3 lakh to Rs 6 lakh 5% Rs 6
Post a Comment
Read more

Jaitley plans to cut MSME tax rate to 25%

By
Income tax for companies with annual turnover up to ?50 crore has been reduced to 25% from 30% in order to make Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) companies more viable and also to encourage firms to migrate to a company format. This move will benefit 96% or 6.67 lakh of the 6.94 lakh companies filing returns of lower taxation and make MSME sector more competitive as compared with large companies. However, bigger firms have shown their disappointment since the proposal for reducing tax rates was to make Indian firms competitive globally and it is the large firms that are competing globally. The Finance Minister foregone revenue estimate of Rs 7,200 crore per annum for this for this measure. Besides, the Finance Minister refrained from removing or reducing Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT), a popular demand from India Inc., but provided a higher period of 15 years for carry forward of future credit claims, instead of the existing 10-year period. “It is not practical to rem
1 comment
Read more

Don't forget to verify your income tax return in August: Here's the process

By
  An ITR return needs to be verified within 120 days of filing of tax return. Now that you have filed your income tax return, remember to verify it because your return filing process is not complete unless you do so. The CBDT has reduced the time limit of ITR verification to 30 days (from 120 days) from the date of return submission. The new rule is applicable for the returns filed online on or after 1st August 2022. E-verification is the most convenient and instant method for verifying your ITR. However, if you prefer not to e-verify, you have the option to verify it by sending a physical copy of the ITR-V. Taxpayers who filed returns by July 31, 2023 but forget to verify their tax returns, will get the following email from the tax department, as per ClearTax. If your ITR is not verified within 30 days of e-filing, it will be considered invalid, and may be liable to pay a Late Fee. Aadhaar OTP | EVC through bank account | EVC through Demat account | Sending duly signed ITR-V through s
Post a Comment
Read more