A through analysis of the Union Budget 2015, especially from a tax perspective, on #IndiaHangOut, in association with Taxsutra.
Arun Giri, the Group Editor of Taxsutra, believes this budget will bring stability to the tax regime. "This is an exceptional budget. Arun Jaitley has shown clarity in his thought. But, at the same time, in the fine print, there are 78 amendments. Tax, worldwide has become very complex. I would give it a 8.7 out of 10. The proof of the pudding will be in the implementation," he said.
Other panelists agreed with Giri and asserted that overall the budget has a wonderful, directional approach but a lot would come to the finer details and how they would be implemented.
"In terms of intent, this budget is truly exceptional," said Dinesh Kanabar, the CEO of Dhruva Advisors. "The unfortunate part is that, in terms of implementation, there are several gaps. The way it has been drafted, it actually creates more issues that it solves. For example, there will be no Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT) on Foreign Institutional Investors (FII), which is welcome move. But, the way it has been worded leaves it open to confusion. Great on intent but poor on implementation," he added.
Mohan Parasaran, Senior Advocate and Former Solicitor General, felt that the budget was quite ambitious and this was only the stage of take-off. "We will have to wait and see if the road map that has been laid so well by the Finance Minister can be implemented in the same way in the future. The abolition of wealth tax, reduction of corporate taxation and the final burial of the Direct Tax Code are some of the key highlights of the Union Budget. The FM has also assured that he will implement the recommendations of the Tax Administrative Reform Commission (TARC), which is quite assuring," he said.
Finance minister Arun Jaitley has postponed implementation of the General Anti-Avoidance Rules of Taxation (GAAR), which was seen as a positive move by all the experts. "The industry was expecting this change and it definitely helps foreign investments, especially through countries like Mauritius and Singapore," said Ameya Kunte, the Co-founder and Executive Editor of Taxsutra.
"GAAR requires specialised training, which needs to be set up in various institutes. I have been advocating this right from the beginning. The department needs to become more professional and they need to make sure they do not start from a negative mindset," added Parasaran.
Watch the #IndiaHangOut video to know which aspects of the budget our panel gave a thumbs up to and which of the issues presented have raised red flags in their minds.