There will be no changes to income tax slabs this year, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman informed on Thursday while presenting the vote-on-account. Other taxes will also be retained at similar levels to last year, including import duties, she said.
In addition she also announced a scheme to withdraw petty income tax demands.
“Outstanding direct tax demands will be withdrawn upto Rs 25000 pertaining to the period upto 2009-10, Rs 10, 000 pertaining to the period upto 2013-14. 1 crore tax payers will benefit out of this.”
The Minister said that the income tax rates are already low and the government has increased the standard deduction from Rs 2.4 lakh per year to Rs 7.5 lakh per year.
She also said that the average processing time of tax returns have been reduced from 93 days in the year 2013-14 to a mere 10 days this year thereby making refunds faster.
In addition, she said that the number of tax return filers has jumped 2.4 times in the last 10 years.
The direct tax collections have trebled in the period, Sitharaman said. Tax base of GST has doubled from FY18. The average monthly GST has also doubled, the Minister informed.