Fewer forms & filings: New I-T law to ease compliance load

NEW DELHI: The new income tax rules are expected to make life less taxing for taxpayers by reducing the number of forms and rules and doing away with several declarations that you are required to make under the 1962 Act, which will be replaced by the new law from April.

To make life simpler for individuals over 75 years, the tax department has sought to simplify Form 12BBA into a basic authorisation. Eligible seniors can authorise banks to compute and deduct tax. The number of fields are reduced by about 46%, and many seniors may no longer need to file returns.

So, for those without a PAN, say your kid, which required filing of Form 60 for 21 different transactions - yielding some 13 crore declarations annually - under the new law, the number of non-PAN declarations have been reduced significantly. No filings are required where data is already available through banking systems or digital payments, govt said Monday. Issuing PAN, for which five crore applications are made annually, too is expected to be speeded up with new simplified forms.

The draft rules, released for public comments on Saturday, have also raised the transaction limits for quoting of PAN for cash deposits and withdrawal in banks, for purchase of motor vehicles and property, and payment of hotel bills. It has also proposed raising the value of tax-free perquisites provided by employers, and making it mandatory for crypto exchanges to share information with the department. Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) will be included as an accepted mode of electronic payment.

Following stakeholder consultation, the rules are expected to be finalised by the first week of March.

According to the proposed rules, quoting PAN will be mandatory for making cash deposits or withdrawals of Rs 10 lakh or more in a financial year. Currently, PAN is required for cash deposits of Rs 50,000 during a day with a bank.

While purchasing vehicles, a buyer has to quote PAN if the price exceeds Rs 5 lakh. Under current rules, PAN is not required for purchase of two-wheelers.

Officials said the idea is to capture only relevant information and "leveraging tech-enhancements of reporting entities" under the Income Tax Act. The value of tax-free perquisites for official vehicles and free meals is proposed to be enhanced in view of the current market realities.



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