Levy duty on broader industry categories to cut tax rates: Price Waterhouse

The Budget could consider levying customs duty on the basis of broader categories of the industry to reduce the number of tax rates, Price Waterhouse & Co LLP said on Thursday.

The "government may come out with different slabs for various products depending on where it is placed in the value chain. Goods may be categorised as Value added/primary and raw material/Intermediary and accordingly slab rates may be fixed," said Anurag Sehgal, Managing Director at Price Waterhouse & Co LLP.

The 2024-25 Budget had announced that a comprehensive review of the Customs Duty rate structure will be undertaken over the next six months to rationalise and simplify it for ease of trade, removal of duty inversion and reduction of disputes.

 

To reduce classification disputes, the Budget had announced a review of the customs duty rates. Currently, there are more than a dozen customs duty rates and the government is looking at reducing the number of rate slabs.

The Budget for 2025-26 will be tabled in Parliament on February 1.

In its Budget expectation, Price Waterhouse & Co LLP also said that the current low 15 per cent tax on new companies should be extended to existing companies which are expanding their manufacturing facilities or making brownfield investments.

Price Waterhouse & Co LLP Partner (Corporate & International Tax) Sandeep Puri said the 15 per cent tax on new manufacturing companies, which was brought in October 2019, should be extended.

"There is a demand that the new regime should be extended to allow existing companies setting up new manufacturing units to take advantage of the effective tax of 17.5 per cent (15 per cent plus cess and surcharge)," Puri said.