In a breather to the middle-class taxpayers, the government on Friday, 1 February, announced that individual tax payers with taxable annual income of up to Rs 5 lakh will get full tax rebate.
Interim Finance Minister Piyush Goyal, who presented the Budget, said, individuals with gross income of up to Rs 6.5 lakh will not need to pay any tax if they invest in provident funds and prescribed equities.
The standard tax deduction for salaried persons has also been increased from Rs 40,000 to Rs 50,000, while the TDS threshold on interest on bank and post office deposits is raised from Rs 10,000 to Rs 40,000. Remember, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had introduced a standard deduction of Rs 40,000 for the salaried class in the last year’s Budget.
Income Tax returns will now be processed within 24 hours and returns will be paid immediately, Goyal said, adding that all tax scrutiny will be done electronically, without any intervention by officials.
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