Nirmala Sitharaman, union finance minister
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman reacted to a post on X by a TV news channel claiming that in a sweeping change, the Income Tax Department is planning to impose uniform treatment for all asset classes
New Delhi:
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday refuted a media report claiming that major changes in the income tax system would be introduced when the new government assumes office after the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.
The 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex crashed 1,100 points due to the uncertainty triggered by the media report.
Ms Sitharaman reacted to a post on X by a TV news channel claiming that in a sweeping change, the Income Tax Department is planning to impose uniform treatment for all asset classes.
Referring to the report, the Finance Minister posted on X, ”Wonder where this came from. Was not even double-checked with Finance Ministry. Pure speculation.”
At present, a differential tax structure for various financial assets is in place.
Investors comply with a differential tax structure for various financial assets. Equity investors pay Long-Term Capital Gains (LTCG) and equity-oriented mutual funds at the rate of 10% after crossing a threshold of Rs 1 lakh, but income from fixed deposits is fully taxable.
Debt mutual fund investors have to pay a short-term capital gains tax according to the marginal rate of taxation for a holding period within 36 months. On the other hand, LTCG on debt funds is is at 20 per cent.
IANS