No timeline yet for phasing out income tax exemptions says Nirmala Sitharaman

Hyderabad: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday said that there is no timeline for phasing out exemptions on personal income tax for those who opted to remain in the old regime.

She said that her ministry wants to move step by step to achieve the eventual goal of a simplified, exemption-free and reduced rate of tax incidence. "We have not made up our mind," she said when asked what would be the time frame to phase out exemptions.

"At the moment we have only started second alternative with some exemptions removed or some exemptions included, although the original intention was to remove all exemptions and give a clear simplified reduced rate of income," she said.

The minister said the gradient of increase of income tax for different income slabs is gentle and there is no sharp increase. "This year, while proposing the second alternative we have not compelled anyone to leave the exemptions and come here (second alternative).

For the sake of clarity we also issued a complete matrix, explaining the net gain for a particular income." Sitharaman also said it was up to the assessee to decide and the ministry would not force anyone to come to the new system.