Husband-wife as single taxpayer, exemption as per inflation among Vidarbha’s wishlist

Nagpur: From bringing in a scheme to monetise gold lying with temples and lending the metal to jewellers, to treating husband and wife as a single taxpayer, revising the basic exemption limit in line with inflation, and reducing the lock-in period for investment in small savings instruments are among the array of pre-Budget suggestions sent to the finance ministry from business guilds and independent experts.While they are eagerly waiting to see whether finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has picked up any of the suggestions, TOI examines a few of them.The President of Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), BC Bhartia, moots that the huge quantity of gold lying in temples can be monetised, and borrowed by banks at a certain rate of interest, and later lent to jewellers. "This can reduce dependence on imports," he said.One of the key suggestions from the Chamber of Associations of Maharashtra Industry and Trade (CAMIT), is that the govt should reduce lock-in period of small savings instruments like National Savings Certificates (NSC) or other schemes which also lead to tax savings. CAMIT president Dipen Agrawal said, "As shorter lock-in can free up funds early, household savings are expected to increase. CAMIT has also called for sops for the green energy sector."The Nagpur branch of Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has championed for treating husband and wife as a single taxpayer by clubbing the exemption limit in case the latter is a homemaker. Dinesh Rathi said the ICAI Nagpur branch also called for doing away with tax deduction at source (TDS) and tax collected at source (TCS) on sale. "It is because collecting the tax and filing the returns is a tedious process, often hampering the ease of doing business. The Nagpur branch sent its suggestion to the head office, from where it was put up before the finance ministry," said Rathi."The govt must come up with a system of yearly revision of basic exemption limit for income tax in line with inflation. For example, it can be linked with the Consumer Price Index (CPI). At present, various suggestions reach the govt for increasing the limit, and the finance ministry takes the final call call. Making it directly proportionate to inflation is likely to be acceptable to all, as it would ensure that only the real income is taxed," said chartered accountant Tejinder Singh Rawal, who is also a part of the Vidarbha Industries Association's (VIA) taxation forum.GST lawyer S N Kapoor called for measures to end litigation and also an amnesty scheme.