'Fifty IRS officers in a report suggested raising the tax rate to 40% for those with income above Rs 1 crore and levy of wealth tax for those with over Rs 5 crore annual income... The CBDT on Sunday said an inquiry is being initiated against 50 IRS officers of the I-T department who have penned an unsolicited report on revenue mobilisation to fund COVID-19 relief measures and made it public without permission.
'The government recently announced Rs 1.7 lakh crore economic package to help the poor deal with the impact of coronavirus and a 21-day nationwide lockdown imposed to contain the spread of the disease. Experts think that the complete lockdown may deepen India’s economic slowdown. In an interview with Outlook’s Rajat Mishra, development economist, and professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) Jayati Ghosh explains how the COVID-19 crisis will impact the Indian economy and what the government needs to do. Excerpts...'
'More than 17 crore PAN cards will become inoperative if not linked with the Aadhaar by end of March. In a move with large scale disruption potential, the Income Tax Department has said that Permanent Account Number (PAN) will become inoperative if not linked with Aadhaar by March 31, 2020. It may be recalled that the deadline for linking of PAN and Aadhaar has been extended several times and the latest deadline ends on 31 March, 2020...'
'When anonymous billionaires use electoral bonds to funnel thousands of crores into the coffers of India’s political parties, the Indian taxpayer pays the banking fees, commissions, printing costs and associated charges, documents reviewed by HuffPost India establish. Neither the secretive billionaire donor, nor the recipient political party, pay a paisa to maintain the secure infrastructure of banking channels, accounts and printing presses that facilitate political donations.
'The bad run for the Indian economy continues with the latest victim being the government's direct tax kitty, where collections have now entered the negative zone for the very first time. Government sources said that direct tax collection in the current fiscal up to 15 January has fallen by 6.1% compared with the corresponding period of previous year. While the development would test the government's ability to manage its finances and contain the deficit, it has the potential to virtually seal the fate of any big tax cut announcement in the coming Union Budget...'
'A chargesheet has been filed against actor-turned-politician BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP Suresh Gopi on Tuesday for alleged evasion of luxury car tax. Suresh Gopi is accused of using fake documents to get his luxury car registered in Puducherry in order to allegedly avoid the steep tax on luxury vehicles in Kerala. The chargesheet was filed by the Crime Branch in the Thiruvananthapuram court on Tuesday, soon after the MP got anticipatory bail in the case. If convicted, the BJP MP could face imprisonment up to seven years...'
'Lavasa had dissented against the EC's clean chit to Narendra Modi in the run up to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections... The Income Tax (I-T) department has once again brought election commissioner Ashok Lavasa under the scanner, this time alleging stamp duty evasion during the transfer of an apartment in Gurugram from Lavasa’s wife, Novel Lavasa, to his sister, Shakuntala Lavasa.
