Ever since the recent Budget passed by the Parliament, there has been a debate over the need to make life easy for the salaried class. One of the proposals, put forward by many influential commentators, is that those earning less than Rs 7 Lakh per annum should be exempted from the need to file returns, since, practically, they have zero tax liability.
Mohandas Pai, one of the most popular financial commentators on social media, says, "Why do we need to file a tax return to claim benefits like rebates? If there is no tax up to Rs 7 Lakh and Rs 7.75 Lakh for salary because of rebate, why file a return? We need a simple structure, where you have a higher exemption limit of say Rs 7 Lakh for all, Rs 7.75 Lakh for salaried people with standard deduction, no rebate, and tax payable on income only above this limit under a new scheme."
He and many who share his understanding opine that Form 26A puts out the details of all payments anyways. "And there are TDS at low limits for most incomes. For the salaried class, Form 26A can contain details of all salary income above Rs 5 Lakh to make sure full details are available with the Income Tax Department," Pai adds.
Today (July 31st) is the last date for filing IT returns.
