Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has assured investors that retrospective amendments to the tax laws would be handled with kid gloves and that all fresh cases arising out of the 2012 amendment of the Income-Tax Act would be looked into by a high-level Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) committee. Stating that the Government is committed to providing stable and predictable taxation regime which would be investor-friendly, Jaitley said all the previous cases, related to retrospective transaction, would be scrutinised by the CBDT committee before any action is taken.
Commenting on the move, Girish Vanvari, Co-Head of tax at KPMG India, said, “While a commitment to no more retrospective amendments and a stable tax regime is a much needed, welcome move to bolster investor confidence, as to how the pre-2012 cases that have already opened up are dealt with, would be the key.”
On fiscal deficit, Vanvari added: “While a budgeted fiscal deficit of around 4.1 per cent in 2014-15 is around expected line, the good news is the roadmap to get it down to 3 per cent in a phased manner over the next two years.”