Government Constitutes Task Force To Draft New Direct Tax Law
Get ready for a new income tax law!
Eight years after he first helped draft a new direct tax code for India, top revenue department bureaucrat Arbind Modi has been handed the task again.
On Tuesday, the ministry of finance said in a media statement that India’s income tax law is over 50 years old and needs redrafting. Hence a task force of seven members has been constituted to draft a new direct tax legislation.
- Arbind Modi, member (Legislation), CBDT
- Girish Ahuja, chartered accountant
- Rajiv Memani, chairman, EY
- Mukesh Patel, advocate
- Mansi Kedia, consultant, ICRIER
- GC Srivastava, retired IRS member and advocate
The media statement says Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian will be a permanent special invitee in the task force.
The committee’s terms of reference are to draft a new law keeping in mind the prevalent taxation system in other countries, international best practices and economic needs of the country.
“Rewriting a code should have the object of simplifying and reducing disputes,” GC Srivastava told BloombergQuint. Having just received formal intimation from the government he preferred not to get into more detail adding that the committee had yet to meet and decide the parameters of discussion.
The domestic law has to keep pace with the changes taking place on the international level.GC Srivastava, Retired IRS Member and Advocate
The ministry statement said the task force will be allowed to set its own procedures for regulating its work and shall submit its report to the government within six months.
In an emailed comment Sanjay Sanghvi, partner at law firm Khaitan & Co described the constitution of this task force as an interesting development.
There was a Direct Tax Code, 2010 which was not enacted (barring some provisions). While the stated objective of this proposal is laudable, the present Income Tax Law in the country already contains most of the international best practices such as GAAR, transfer pricing / CBCR, BEPS and so on. It would be helpful if the new tax law emphasizes more reasonable and fair administration of the tax laws to address the concerns of uncertainties and needless tax litigations.Sanjay Sanghvi, Partner, Khaitan & Co