Budget Summary 2012

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Budget Summary 2012

				By: Vivek Harsh
				March 16, 2012
All Articles by: Vivek Harsh View Profile

Contents

Income Tax

Tax collection up 15%

Income Tax proposals:
Personal Income Tax slabs for individuals relaxed
Exemption limit enhanced from Rs 1.8 lakh to Rs 2 lakh
Upper limit of 20% tax raised from Rs 8 lakh to Rs 10 lakh

New Slabs as follows:
Upto Rs 2 lakh - Nil
Rs 2-5 lakh - 10%
Rs 5–10 lakh – 20%
Above Rs 10 lakh – 30%
Interest from savings account up to Rs 10,000 to be exempt from tax
In addition to medical insurance, an additional Rs 5000 to be exempted for preventive health check-ups
Senior Citizens exempted from filing advance tax
Compulsory reporting of assets sold abroad

Corporate Tax
Corporate Tax structure left unchanged
Withholding tax on certain overseas borrowings reduced to 5% from 20%
Securities Transaction Tax cut by 20% for stock market orders

Service Tax
Service Tax rate up from 10% to 12%
Higher Service Tax to add Rs 186.6 bn in revenue
Duty-free baggage allowance for Indians increased to Rs 35,000
Duty-free baggage allowance for children increased to Rs 15,000

Proposal to tax all services except negative list

Exempted services include:
Government services
Pre-school, school education, recognised education at higher levels and approved vocational education
Renting of residential dwellings, entertainment and amusement services to be exempt
Public transportation to be exempt from service tax
Agricultural activities and animal husbandry to be exempt from service tax
Health care
Charities, religious persons
Sportspersons
Performing artists in folk and classical arts
Individual advocates providing services to non-business entities
Independent journalists
Services related with animal care and car parking
Services of business facilitators and correspondents to banks and insurance companies
Construction services relating to specified infrastructure, canals, irrigation works, post-harvest infrastructure, residential dwelling, and low-cost mass housing up to an area of 60 sq. mtr.
Exemption for the monthly charges payable by a member to a housing society up from Rs 3,000 to Rs 5,000
Industry related with cinematographic films
To set up a Study Team to examine the possibility of a common tax code for service tax and central excise
New scheme to simplify refunds

Indirect Taxes

Other Indirect Taxes
Standard Excise duty raised from 10% to 12 %
Merit Excise duty raised from 5% to 6 %
Lower merit rate raised from 1% to 2 %
Lower merit rate for coal, fertilisers, mobile phones and precious metal jewellery retained at 1%
Excise duty on large cars up from 22% to 24%
Customs duty cut to 2.5% on sugarcane planter, root or tuber crop harvesting machine and rotary tiller and weeder
Customs duty cut to 5% on specified coffee plantation and processing machinery
To extend project import benefit to green house and protected cultivation for horticulture and floriculture
Customs duty cut to 5 % on some water soluble fertilisers and liquid fertilisers
Customs duty cut to 2.5 % on urea
To extend concessional import duty for Mechanised Handling Systems and Pallet Racking Systems in mandis or warehouses for horticultural produce
Imports of equipment for initial setting up or expansion of fertiliser projects fully exempt for three years
Steam coal fully exempt, concessional CVD of 1% for two years
Natural Gas and Liquified Natural Gas exempt
Uranium concentrate, Sintered Uranium Dioxide in natural and pellet form exempt
Customs Duty on Mining machinery cut to 2.5%
Customs Duty on Railways safety equipment cut to 7.5%
Import Duty on road, tunnel boring equipment fully exempt
Parts of aircraft, testing equipment and tyres exempt
Customs Duty on coating material for manufacture of electrical steel cut to 5 %
Nickel ore and concentrate and nickel oxide/ hydroxide fully exempt
Customs Duty on non-alloy, flat-rolled up at 7.5%
Automatic shuttle-less looms fully exempt
Automatic silk reeling and processing machinery fully exempt
Second-hand textile machinery to attract basic duty of 7.5 %
Duty on wool waste and wool tops cut to 5%
Duty on Titanium dioxide cut to 7.5%
Aramid yarn and fabric used for the manufacture of bullet proof helmets fully exempt
Duty on branded ready-made garments with up at 12 %
Waste Paper fully exempt
LCD and LED TV panels fully exempt
Memory card for mobile phones fully exempt
Duty on Adult diapers cut to 5%
Duty on bicycles increased to 30%
Duty on bicycle parts increased to 20%
Excise Duty on hand-made matches cut to 6%
Six specified life-saving drugs/ vaccines for HIV-AIDS, renal cancer etc fully exempt
Customs Duty on Soya protein concentrate and isolated soya protein cut to 15% and 10% respectively
Iodised salt to have concessional basic customs duty of 2.5%
Customs Duty on Probiotics cut to 5%
Solar energy equipment to be fully exempt
Excise duty on LED lamps cut to 6 %
Hybrid vehicle batteries to be fully exempt
Customs duty on gold bars, gold coins increased to 4%
Customs duty on non-standard gold increased to 10%
Customs duty on platinum increased to 4%
Basic duty on gold ore, concentrate and dore bars increased to 2%
Excise duty on refined gold increased to 3 %
Polished, coloured gem stones to attract 2% duty
Excise duty on cigarettes to attract ad valorem component of 10% on existing rates
Excise duty on hand-rolled bidis increased to 10 per thousand
Excise duty on machine-rolled bidis increased to `21 per thousand
Duty increased on pan masala, gutkha, chewing tobacco, unmanufactured tobacco and zarda scented tobacco in pouches
Cess on Crude petroleum oil increased to `4,500 per metric tonne
Customs Duty on large cars/ MUVs/ SUVs with value exceeding USD 40,000 enhanced from 60 per cent to 75 per cent ad valorem
Packaged cement to have unified rate of 12 % + `120 PMT for non-mini cement plants and 6 % + `120 PMT for mini-cement plants
Non-branded jewellery to attract excise duty of 1%
Branded silver jewellery fully exempt
Building of commercial vehicle bodies to attract an ad valorem rate of 3%