Parliament panel examining Income Tax Bill holds first meeting

PTILast Updated: Feb 24, 2025, 06:09:00 PM IST

Synopsis

The Finance Ministry briefed the members of a Select Committee on the new Income Tax Bill, which aims to simplify the six-decade-old Act and make it user-friendly. The Bill, introduced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, will replace terms like "assessment year" with "tax year". The 31-member committee, led by BJP MP Jay Panda, will report by the Monsoon session.

New Delhi: The Finance Ministry on Monday briefed the members of a Select Committee of Lok Sabha on various aspects of the Income Tax Bill as the panel headed by BJP MP Baijayant 'Jay' Panda held its first meeting. Sources said the finance secretary told the parliamentarians that the Bill will simplify the existing Act, enacted over six decades back, and make it more user-friendly.

Lok Sabha sent the Bill to the committee on the request of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman after she introduced it in the House in the first half of Parliament's Budget Session.

Sitharaman had said the new I-T Bill will carry forward the spirit of "Nyaya" (justice) based on the concept of "trust first, scrutinise later".

The Bill seeks to replace terminologies such as "assessment year" and "previous year" with the easier-to-understand "tax year" as part of a move to simplify language while removing provisos and explanations.

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla had constituted the 31-member Select Committee on February 14.

Besides Panda, other BJP members who are on the panel include Nishikant Dubey, P P Chaudhary, Bhartruhari Mahtab and Anil Baluni.

Opposition MPs include Deepender Singh Hooda of the Congress, Mahua Moitra of the TMC, Supriya Sule of the NCP (SP) and N K Premachandran of the RSP.

The panel is mandated to submit its report by the first day of the Monsoon session. The Budget session will conclude on April 4 and the Monsoon session may commence in the third week of July.