Ban on cash transactions above Rs3 lakh under study, says CBDT

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 23

The government is considering the recommendation of Special Investigation Team (SIT) on black money to ban cash transactions above Rs 3 lakh, the CBDT chief said today.

“The SIT recommendations are under consideration. As far as the Income Tax Department is concerned, we have put a 1% TCS (Tax Collected at Source) on cash transactions, we have made quoting PAN mandatory, all these aspects are also part of the SIT recommendation to stop the use of cash in the economy,” said Rani Singh Nair, chairperson, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) while inaugurating an Assocham tax conference.

On the issue of advancing the date of General Budget presentation to January, she said it will bring in more efficiency in the Budget making as two-three months of the financial year will not be lost in the Budget process.

She also said the government was holding discussions for the renegotiated India-Singapore tax treaty.

“So now that we have renegotiated Mauritius, Singapore is under discussion. We are discussing it, we hope we will soon have a discussion with them as this is a bilateral treaty, so we have to take the concerns of both the countries and then we will sign,” she added.

She said during the course of past two years, the endeavour of the government and the CBDT has been to facilitate investments into India to ensure that the taxpayer pays his taxes with the ease of doing business because the tax coffers will never be full if there is no business in India.