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Interim Highlights of the Union Budget 2023-2024 - IndiaFilings Last updated: April 23rd, 2024 4:44 PM

Interim Highlights of the Union Budget 2023-2024

Finance Minister Ms.Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Interim Union Budget 2023-24 on February 01, emphasizing the rural sector, social sector schemes, infrastructure creation, and the middle class. In this article, we will look at the highlights of the Union Budget 2023-2024.

Amendments Proposed under Direct Tax

The Amendments Proposed under the Union Budget 2023-2024 related to Incometax are as follows:

New income tax Rate

  • The basic exemption limit under the new tax regime has been increased to Rs.3 lakh.
  • In the new income tax regime, the tax rebate limit for salaried and individual taxpayers has been raised to Rs.3 lakh.
  • The tax rebate limit available for individual and salaried taxpayers under the new income tax regime has been hiked to Rs.7lakh from the present Rs.5 lakh. Refer to the following table for the income tax slabs for the new income tax regime.

Total Income (Rs)

Rate (percent)

Up to 3,00,000 Nil
From 3,00,001 to 6,00,000 5
From 6,00,001 to 9,00,000 10
From 9,00,001 to 12,00,000 15
From 12,00,001 to 15,00,000 20
Above 15,00,000 30
The new tax regime will be made the default tax regime. However, the taxpayer will continue to have the option to avail the benefit of the old tax regime.

Common IT Return Form

The next generation Common IT Return Form will be introduced for taxpayer convenience, along with plans to strengthen grievance redress mechanisms.

Rebate limit of Personal Income Tax

The new tax regime's rebate limit for Personal Income Tax will be increased to Rs. 7 lacks from Rs. 5 lacks. In the new tax regime, persons with income up to Rs. 7 lack will not have to pay any tax.

Other Highlights on Income tax

In the new tax regime, salaried individuals will be eligible for a standard deduction of Rs. 50,000 and deductions from family pensions of Rs. 15,000. Under the new tax regime, the highest surcharge rate will be reduced from 37 percent to 25 percent. This further reduces the maximum personal income tax rate to 39%. The TDS rate will be reduced from 30% to 20% on the taxable portion of EPF withdrawal in non-PAN cases.

Amendments proposed under the GST laws

The Finance Bill has proposed the amendment in respect of the below-mentioned scenarios for extending the time limit up to November 30 following the end of the relevant financial year or date of furnishing the relevant annual return, whichever is earlier:
  • The time limit for availing of the Input Tax Credit
  • The time limit for reporting Credit Note transactions in Form GSTR 3B
  • Rectification of errors or omission or reporting of incorrect particulars in Form GSTR 1, Form GSTR 3B, and Form GSTR 8
  • A retrospective amendment (from July 01, 2017) has been proposed under Union Budget 2023-2024 for levying interest on Input Tax Credit ('ITC') wrongly availed and utilized. The interest on such ITC would be 18% p.a. (instead of 24% p.a.).
A new condition is proposed to provide that the registered person would not be allowed to file Form GSTR 1 unless he files Form GSTR-1 for any previous tax periods. Further, Form GSTR-3B would not be allowed to be filed unless the Form GSTR-1 for the current tax period is not furnished.

Amendments in provisions relating to GST returns