Government may act on retrospective tax laws before budget

10 Oct 2012 Evaluate

In what can be said as an extension to the reform measures, the government has said that it will not wait for the Budget, due in February, to address the issues concerning retrospective amendment to Income Tax laws. Finance Minister P Chidambaram stated that ‘once we take a view on Shome Committee report, I see no reason why we should wait for the Budget session. We should move whatever changes have to be brought about in Parliament as early as possible.’

The Committee, headed by tax expert Parthasarathi Shome, had last week submitted its report on retrospective tax amendment to the Finance Minister and has opined that ideally taxes should not be levied retrospectively and if indeed the government does choose to impose them retrospectively, it should not claim either interest or penalty.

The panel’s recommendation has not only provided relief to the domestic investors but has also given major reprieve to foreign institutional investors (FIIs) and private equity (PE) investors. The panel has recommended that in cases where FIIs and PE investors have a less than controlling stake through indirect investment, they should not be hit by the indirect transfer rule. Above all it has recommendation that the government should use its constitutional powers to amend tax laws retrospectively only in the rarest of rare cases.

Finance Minister has said that ‘resolution of the tax disputes, both pending and anticipated, is good for the country, good for the economy and investments. So we must find ways to resolve the issue.’

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