Tax slabs for the new and old income tax regimes will remain unchanged, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced on Thursday in the interim Budget.
In the new tax regime, no tax is levied on income up to Rs 3 lakh. Tax slabs under this regime for individuals, senior citizens and super senior citizens are the same.
Under the old regime, income up to Rs 2.5 lakh is exempt from tax for individuals up to 60 years. For those between 60 to 80 years, the tax exemption limit is Rs 3 lakh, while for those above 80 years, the limit is Rs 5 lakh.
Sitharaman said on Thursday that in the last 10 years, direct tax collections more than tripled and the number of return filers increased 2.4 times.
“I would like to assure the taxpayers that their contributions have been used wisely for the development of the country and welfare of its people,” Sitharaman said in her Budget speech.
The finance minister said that the average processing time of income tax returns has reduced from 93 days in 2013-’14 to 10 days in the current fiscal.
This was the last Budget presented before the Lok Sabha elections.
With the term of the current Bharatiya Janata Party-led Union government ending in coming months, a full Budget for the financial year 2024-’25 will likely be presented in July, after a new government is sworn in.
An interim Budget only outlines the expected income and expenditure of the Centre for the upcoming financial year. Interim Budgets typically do not include any significant policy changes.
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