As UP polls ends, a sign of relief is breathed. But government has to gear up to face the ‘D’ day as budget 2012 nears. From the common man to the Oil companies, from the IT industry to the Defense, all are crossing their fingers to see some positive outcome of the coming up budget. Counting on the union budget is our Non-Resident Indians as well who are expecting some constructive changes in taxation policies and exemptions which is very imperative for their partaking in Indian investments.
Tax Deduction at source has been a long pressing issue for the NRIs. Under section 195 of the Indian Income Tax Act, all NRIs will enjoy tax free for the interests they gain from any bank deposits, but tax is not exempted when it comes to interests that they earn from other investment instruments like corporate deposits and bonds as it will be subject to TDS at 20 percent.
The glitch here for the NRIs are that there is no exemption limit specified and any interest gained from the financial instruments irrespective of the amount small or large, they will be taxed 20 percent. For example, interest earned by resident Indians from bank deposits is subject to TDS only over and above a limit of Rs 10000. No such limit applies for NRIs. NRIs are demanding an exemption limit to be introduced.
TDS is also deducted when a certain payment is made to an NRI, for example through a regular salary payment. In which case, the TDS will be deducted by the employer (who will be called the deductor) and the NRI whose TDS is getting deducted (will be called the deductee). Here again the deduction cannot made by the employer until the NRI provides the Tax Deduction Account Number (TAN). All NRIs do not have TAN numbers and this becomes a obstruction for any deduction.
Claiming of TDS exemption is also a beat around the bush as an NRI has to submit his tax residency certificate obtained from tax authorities of the country they are resident of to claim any TDS exemption. All NRIs want this protocol either removed or made a little flexible as this becomes a tedious process.
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