PM Modi to honor honest taxpayers on Independence Day

As India celebrates 74th Independence Day, the government has decided to honor the honest taxpayer by launching the scheme ‘Transparent Taxation – to honor the Honest.’ Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch the scheme tomorrow via video conferencing, according to an official press release.

The event will be attended by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and junior Finance Minister Anurag Singh Thakur. The event will be witnessed by various chambers of commerce, trade associations, chartered accountants' associations and officials of the Income Tax Department.

The Prime Minister Office (PMO) was reportedly continuously holding meetings with the chief commissioners of the income tax department in the three-four weeks.

“The Central Board of Direct Taxation (CBDT) has carried out several major tax reforms in direct taxes in the recent years. Last year the corporate tax rates were reduced from 30 per cent to 22 per cent and for new manufacturing units the rates were reduced to 15 per cent. Dividend distribution Tax was also abolished,” said the press release.

The CBDT has said it is an attempt for bringing transparency and efficiency in the IT department, “The focus of the tax reforms has been on reduction in tax rates and on simplification of direct tax laws. Several initiatives have been taken by the CBDT for bringing in efficiency and transparency in the functioning of the IT Department,” said the release, adding, “This includes bringing more transparency in official communication through the newly introduced Document Identification Number (DIN) wherein every communication of the Department would carry a computer generated unique document identification number.”.