Union Budget 2013-14

The following are the Highlights of Union Budget 2013-14 relating to Direct & Indirect tax aspects.

1. No change in slabs and rate for personal income tax.
2. Education cess to continue at 3 per cent. 
3. Tax credit of Rs 2000 to be provided to every person to having income of up to Rs 5 lakh, this will benefit 1.8
4. crore people.
5. 5 to 10 per cent surcharge on domestic companies whose taxable income exceeds Rs 10 crore.
6. Commodities transaction tax levied on non-agriculture commodities futures contracts at 0.01 per cent.
7. No change in peak rate of customs duty for non-agriculture products.
8. No change in basic customs duty rate of 10% and service tax rate of 12 per cent.
9. Import duty raised on set-top boxes from 5 to 10 per cent to safeguard interest of domestic producers.
10. Import duty raised from 75 to 100 per cent on luxury vehicles.
11. Duty free limit on gold raised to Rs 50,000 in case of male and Rs 100,000 in case of female.
12. No countervailing duty on ships and vessels. 
13. Specific excise duty on cigarettes and cigars raised by 18 per cent.
14. Excise duty on SUVs to be increased to 30 per cent from 27 per cent, SUVs registered as taxis exempted.
15. Duty on mobiles above Rs 2,000 raised from one to six percent, based on their maximum retail prices.
16. Service tax to be levied on all a/c restaurants.
17. One time voluntary compliance scheme for service tax defaulters to be introduced. Interest and penalties to be waived.
18. Contributions made to central and state government health scheme eligible to tax benefit.
19. TDS of one per cent on value of on land deals over Rs 50 lakh. Agriculture land exempted.
20. Securities Transaction Tax (STT) reduced on equity future, mutual fund. 
21. Surcharge of 10 per cent for individuals whose taxable income is over Rs 1 crore.
22. 5 to 10 per cent surcharge on domestic companies whose taxable income exceeds Rs 10 crore
23. Investor with stake of 10 per cent or less will be treated as FII; any stake more than 10 per cent will be treated as FDI.
24. FIIs will be allowed to participate in exchange traded currency derivatives.
25. Small and medium companies to be allowed to listed on MSME exchange without making a public offer. 
26. First housing loan up to Rs 25 lakh would get additional deduction of interest of up to Rs 1 lakh in 2013-14.

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