Taxsutra

So the worst fears of Corporate India and tax professionals have now been confirmed by Finance Minister P.Chidambaram. The Direct Tax Code Bill will not be presented in the last session of the current Parliament, which means that the much debated, revised & re-revised Bill will lapse!

So is it the end of road for DTC which has been in the making for better part of the last decade? A case of so near, yet so far especially since the Standing Committee had cleared the Bill with its suggestions? Can a new Finance Minister succeed in evolving consensus on a new tax code? Or will any attempt at a new tax code be a sheer waste of time, as some tax stalwarts believe? Is there some light at the end of a dark tunnel?

Tax experts Mukesh Butani(BMR Legal), Gautam Doshi (Reliance ADA Group), Sunil Kapadia (EY), H Padamchand Khincha (H C Khincha & Co), TP Ostwal (TP Ostwal & Associates), Krishan Malhotra (Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh a. shroff & co.) and Girish Gurnani (GE India) put forth their stand.

Mukesh Butani

DTC no show was anticipated and in hindsight, it’s sensible to defer rather than rush through an important piece of legislation. Though, the bill was adequately debated with benefit of 2 rounds of Finance committee of Parliament, the subordinate legislation was under wraps and given that the size of proposed DTC was pruned, there must be lot in store on rules. More importantly, the silver lining is that the deferral will now afford an opportunity to embrace recommendations of the Tax administrative reforms commission some of which will entail amendments to the law and rules.