FKCCI’s Comprehensive Pre-Union Budget Memorandum to FM
The pre-Union Budget 2023-24 Memorandum submitted by FKCCI to Hon’ble Union Finance Minister, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, has recommended several path-breaking measures to enhance the ease of doing business and also resolve many grievances of Industry, Services & Trade, a gist of which is given below:
* A National Court for Direct Taxes for faster dispute resolution, saving time, effort and reducing cost
* Tax holidays and special tax benefits to boost businesses in Tier 2 & Tier 3 cities
* Permitting deduction of CSR expenses incurred by taxpayers pursuant to provisions of the Companies Act, 2013 under Section 37 in computing business income
* Extending the existing benefits of deduction to companies engaged in renewable energy like wind/hydro/solar power commissioned after March 2017
* Extending the benefit of presumptive taxation to Limited Liability Partnership (LP) companies
* Providing interest-free loan to MSMEs to help them in easing their capital requirement for purchasing new inventory, buying new equipment, expanding their business
* Modify the existing grievance redressal mechanism by including an option to track the grievances and escalate such grievances online after a pre-determined lapse of time
* Re-introduce an amnesty scheme in line with the Sabka Vishwas (Legacy Dispute Resolution) (SVLDR) scheme to clear the backlog of erstwhile tax disputes of companies relating to service tax, central excise and customs
* Encourage investments into start-ups by levying lower short-term capital gains (STCG) tax rate instead of slab rate under section 111-A
* Give minimum 15 days’ time to the assessee to respond to a tax notice under faceless assessment scheme
* Increase in deduction allowed against interest on home loans from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 5 lakh as the interest component on home loans under even the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) scheme exceed the current limit of Rs 2 lakh
* Provide a weighted deduction of 125% of expenses relating to innovation such as AI, ML, etc. incurred by IT/ITeS companies
* Make Income tax rate for Partnership firms equal to the tax slab of Corporates, i.e. from 30% to 22% excluding cess
* Offer a one -time interest waiver scheme in relation to EPCG License non-compliance on the lines of the Karasamadhana scheme.
B.V. Gopal Reddy
President, FKCCI
