The government on Saturday announced changes in the Income Tax Act to define a non-resident Indian for tax purposes.
“We’ve made changes in Income Tax Act where if an Indian citizen stays out of country for more than 182 days, he becomes non-resident. So we’ve made some changes, now in order to become non-resident he has to stay out of country for 240 days,” Revenue Secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey said at a customary post-Budget press conference of the Union finance minister.
But if any Indian citizen is not a resident of any country in the world, he will be deemed to be a resident of India and the government will tax his income.
“They may be staying in different countries for certain number of days. So if any Indian citizen is not a resident of any country in the world, he’ll be deemed to be a resident of India and his worldwide income will be taxed,” he said.
In her Budget speech on Saturday, Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman offered an optional lower rate of income tax to individuals and proposed new tax slabs of 15 per cent and 25 per cent in addition to the existing 10 per cent, 20 per cent and 30 per cent. The new I-T slabs would be for individuals not availing certain specified deductions or exemptions.
“We wanted to place money in the hands of the people, particularly the middle class and lower middle classes. We also wanted to simplify income tax process and increase compliance,” Sitharaman said at the press conference.
Under the budget proposals, people earning up to Rs 5 lakh need not pay any income tax. For those who have an income between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 7.5 lakh, will now pay 10 per cent tax; those earning between 7.5 lakh and 10 lakh will pay an income tax of 15 per cent. For income between Rs 10 to 12.5 lakh, the new tax rate is 20 per cent and for income between Rs 12.5 lakh and 15 lakh, the revised tax rate will be 25 per cent.
There will be no change for those earning above Rs 15 lakh per annum and they will be continue to be taxed at 30 per cent.
