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India Inc should come up with 10 “actionable and specific” suggestions that the Revenue Department could examine for making India a manufacturing hub for the global business community, a top Revenue Department official has said.
Asserting that the Revenue Department was committed to “actualising” the concept of “Make in India”, Revenue Secretary Shaktikanta Das said industry should play a constructive role on this front.
“It is not enough just to say that we need Government policies for job creation, skill development and non-adversarial approach in taxation. We are looking at actionable suggestions from you (industry),” Das said in his inaugural address at Assocham’s 11th international tax conference here on Thursday.
He urged corporates to keep aside the seven-eight high-profile tax litigation cases and move ahead in a spirit of cooperation and partnership.
The Revenue Secretary also said that incentivising manufacturing need not necessarily mean providing fiscal incentives to pep up industrial activity. There are fiscal constraints and the Government has to do a tough balancing act, he said. Das said there was a need to move away from the business of aggressive tax planning (by businesses) and aggressive assessments (by tax departments).
The Government is focused on making the tax environment more business-friendly, have a transparent and predictable tax system with clarity in tax laws, he added.
In recent years, there has been a trust deficit between the Government and the corporate sector on the tax administration front, thanks to high-profile cases such as Vodafone, Shell India and Nokia India.
On its part, the Tax Department is alleged to have adopted aggressive transfer pricing adjustments, resulting in huge demand on multinational enterprises with business connection in India.
The number of transfer pricing disputes and the quantum of transfer pricing adjustments have been increasing disproportionately in the recent years, leading to dampening of business sentiment and lower investor confidence.
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