Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman kicks off pre-Budget talks

New Delhi: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has begun pre-Budget 2023 consultation from Monday starting with industry leaders and experts in infrastructure and climate.

During the meetings, the participants are giving suggestions on the 2023-24 Budget which will be presented in Parliament by the Finance Minister on February 1. The pre-budget meetings with the trade union representatives and economists are scheduled for November 28. She will also be meeting the representatives of services sector and trade bodies, besides experts from social sector, including health, education, water and sanitation, on November 24.

According to the recent reports, the government is planning to change its capital gains tax structure in the Budget 2023-24 to bring parity in various asset classes, like equity, debt and immovable property, to tax them uniformly. A report quoted an official saying that asset classes currently are not taxed uniformly and have different holding periods for levying capital gains tax, which needs to be aligned.

The government has received several proposals from the industry to simplify the capital gains tax structure, and changes are expected in the Budget for 2023/24, according to the reports.

On the possible tinkering in capital gains tax, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) Chairman Nitin Gupta has also said: "It's part of budget process, can't divulge." Under the Income Tax Act, gains from sale of capital assets — both movable and immovable — are subject to 'capital gains tax'.

Depending upon the period of holding an asset, the long-term or short-term capital gains tax is levied. The Act provides for separate rates of taxes for both categories of gains. The method of computation also differs for both the categories.