Beyond Arun Jaitley's Budget Speech

Major change proposed by Finance Bill is introduction of the concept of taxing income in India based on 'significant economic presence'

The Finance Minister broke tradition and read out parts of the Budget speech in Hindi. While the imposition of tax on long-term capital gains hogged the headlines, this article covers some tax provisions of the Finance Bill which, for paucity of time or importance, did not form part of the speech.

Taxpayers presently have the option of saving long-term capital gains tax by investing in bonds with a three-year lock issued by various authorities, including National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and Rural Electrification Corporation Limited. This is sought to be curtailed by limiting the benefit to save tax only on