New Delhi, Feb 8: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said that she is hopeful of introducing the new Income Tax Bill in the coming week, which would go to the Parliament's Standing Committee on Finance for scrutiny.

Aiming to put more money in the hands of the middle class and simplify the whole filing process, the bill has been granted approval in the Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

In a media interaction after addressing the Central Board of Directors of the Reserve Bank here in a post-Budget meeting, FM Sitharaman said that after all the process is completed and the Parliament passes it, then the government will decide when to roll out the new bill.

"I hope to have it introduced in the Lok Sabha in the coming week. The process is the committee gives its recommendation, it comes back, and then the government, through the Cabinet, takes a call whether these amendments are to be taken in, or some of them, or more need to be," the Finance Minister said.

"It's only after that it again goes to the Parliament. So, once the Parliament passes, it is when they decide on when best to roll it out from," she added.

Before the Income Tax Bill was cleared by the Cabinet, people in the know said that the legislation would likely provide directions to widen the tax net, given the contraction in the tax base following the exemption limit being raised to Rs 12 lakh in the Union Budget.

The current Income Tax Act was enforced in the country in 1961 and now, the new Income Tax Act is being made according to the needs of the 21st century to replace the existing law, according to sources close to the development.

The simplification of this bill can be understood in a way that there are about 6 lakh words in the old Income Tax Act, which will be drastically reduced to about 3 lakh in the new bill, easy for taxpayers to comprehend.

(IANS)

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