By CA Manoj Kohli 16th.,march 2012
Direct Taxes
(1) Income tax exemption limit raised from Rs.1,80,000 to Rs.2,00,000; upper limit of 20 per
cent tax slab raised from Rs.8 lakh to Rs.10 lakh
(2) Interest from savings bank accounts deductible upto Rs.10,000; deduction of upto Rs.5,000
for preventive health check-up
(3) Turnover limit for compulsory tax audit for SMEs raised from Rs.60 lakh to Rs.1 crore
(4) STT reduced from 0.125% to 0.1%
(5) Senior citizens without business income exempt from advance tax
(6) 15% rate for dividends from foreign companies extended for FY 2012-13
(7) TCS on cash purchase of bullion and jewellery
(8) TCS on cash purchase of immovable property above specified limit
(9) Withholding tax rate on interest on ECB reduced from 20% to 5% for 3 years for specified
sectors
(10) General Anti Avoidance Rule being introduced to counter aggressive tax avoidance
(11) Re-opening of tax assessments upto 16 years in case of overseas assets
(12) White paper on Black Money to be introduced in the current session of Parliament
(13) Tax @ 30% on unexplained credit or investment (slab rate benefit not available)
(14) No change in corporate tax rate and tax structures
(15) Cascading effect of DDT in a multi-layer corporate structure removed
(16) 82 Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements and 19 Tax Information? Exchange
Agreements finalised: FM
(17) A number of measures proposed to deter generation and use of unaccounted money
(18) Share Premiums in access of the Fair Market Value to be treated as income u/s 56(2)
(19) New Section 271AAB has been introduced in place of 271AAA in case of search conducted
after 01.07.2012.
Indirect Taxes
(1) Service tax rate increased from 10% to 12%
(2) All services to attract service tax except those in the negative list
(3) General excise rate to be increased from 10% to 12%
(4) Common tax code for Excise and Service tax
(5) Relief in indirect taxes to sectors under stress; agriculture, infrastructure, mining, railways,
roads, civil aviation, manufacturing, health and nutrition, and environment get duty relief