Highlights of interim budget 2019 -

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February 2, 2019

Individual taxpayers with annual income up to INR 5 lakhs to get full tax rebate.
Individuals with gross income up to INR 6.5 lakhs will not need to pay any tax if they make investments in provident funds and prescribed equities.
Benefit of rollover of capital tax gains to be increased from investment in one residential house to that in two residential houses, for a taxpayer having capital gains up to 2 crores; can be exercised once in a lifetime.
Benefits under section 80(i)BA being extended for one more year for all housing projects approved till the end of 2019-20.
Standard tax deduction for salaried persons rose from INR 40,000 to INR 50,000.
Tax deducted at source (TDS) threshold on rental income rose from INR 1.8 lakhs to INR 2.4 lakhs.
Ceiling limit of TDS under section 194A has increased from INR 10,000 to INR 40,000.
Finance minister claimed, “Around 3 crore middle-class taxpayers will get tax exemption due to this measure.”
Benefit has been given to unsold inventory and increased from one year to two years.
Gratuity limit increased from INR 10 lakhs to INR 30 lakhs.
Bonus and employee state insurance (ESI) benefit will be applicable for workers earning INR 21,000 monthly.
“We are poised to become a 5 trillion dollar economy in the next five years; we aspire to become a USD 10 trillion economy in the next eight years.” Finance Minister Piyush Goyal said.
Businesses with less than INR 5 crores annual turnover comprising 90% of goods and services tax (GST) payers will be allowed to file quarterly returns.
Group of ministers administering how prospective house buyers can benefit under GST.
GST has been continuously reduced, resulting in relief of INR 80,000 crores to consumers; most items of daily use for poor and middle class are now in the 0% – 5% tax bracket.
2% interest subvention on loan of INR 1 crore for GST registered micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) units.
The 4R approach has been implemented to ensure clean banking:
Single window clearance for filmmaking to be made available to Indian filmmakers, anti-camcording provision to be introduced to Cinematography Act to combat film piracy.
Allocation for north-eastern region proposed to be increased to INR 58,166 crores in this year an increase of over 21% from the previous year.
Increased allocation for Rashtriya Gokul Mission to INR 750 crores in current year.
2% interest subvention to farmers pursuing animal husbandry and fisheries.
Adding to his statement, Goyal said, “Urgent action to increase hydrocarbon production to decrease imports; change in bidding procedure and exploration procedure being implemented.”
Committee under NITI Aayog to be set up to identify and denotify nomadic and semi-nomadic communities; Welfare Development Board to be set up under Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment for welfare of these hard-to-reach communities and for tailored strategic interventions.
Within almost 2 years, almost all assessments and verifications of income tax (IT) returns will be done electronically by an anonymized tax system without any intervention by tax officials.
Under Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi, INR 6,000 per year for each farmer in three installments to be transferred directly to farmers bank accounts for farmers with less than 2 hectares land holding. This initiative likely to benefit 12 crore small and marginal farmers at an estimated cost of INR 75,000 crores.
Finance Minister further added in his speech, “Cost of data and voice calls in India is now possibly the lowest in the world; mobile and mobile part manufacturing companies have increased from 2 to 268.”
Direct tax collections from 6.38 lakh crores in 2013-14 to almost 12 lakh crores, tax base up from INR 3.79 crores to INR 6.85 crores. 99.54% returns have been accepted without any scrutiny. In January 2019, GST collection has crossed INR 1 lakh crore.
Mega Pension Yojana, namely Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Mandhan, to provide assured monthly pension of INR 3,000 per month, with contribution of INR 100 per month for workers in unorganized sector after 60 years of age. This will benefit 10 crore workers in unorganized sector and might become the world’s biggest pension scheme for unorganized sector in 5 years.