Ease of doing business – Minimum Government Maximum Governance

The following are the measures announced by government in the budget to achieve the goal of "ease of doing business - minimum government, maximum governance" :-

1)      Simplification of tax procedures.

2)      Monetary limit for a case to be heard by a single member bench of ITAT increase from INR 5 lakh to INR 15 lakh.

3)      Penalty provision in indirect taxes are being rationalised to encourage compliance and
early dispute resolution.

4)      Central excise/Service tax assesses to be allowed to use digitally signed invoices and
maintain record electronically.

5)      Wealth-tax replaced with additional surcharge of 2 per cent on super rich with a taxable
income of over INR 1 crore annually.

6)      Domestic transfer pricing threshold limit increased from INR 5 crore to INR 20 crore.

7)      MAT (Minimum Alternate Tax) rationalised for FIIs and members of an AOP (Association of Persons).

8)      Tax Administration Reform Commission (TARC) recommendations to be appropriately
implemented during the course of the year.

9)      Education cess and the Secondary and Higher education cess to be subsumed in Central
Excise Duty.

10)  Time limit for taking CENVAT credit on inputs and input services increased from 6
months to 1 year.

11)  Service-tax plus education cesses increased from 12.36% to 14% to facilitate transition
to GST.

12)  Seized cash can be adjusted towards assessees tax liability.