NRIs' income generated in India to be taxable, says Nirmala Sitharaman
New Delhi/UNI: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday said the government has full right on the income generated by an NRI in India and will be taxed as per Indian laws.
Speaking in an interaction here, she said the income, an NRI is earning from the country he is residing in, would not be taxed by Indian authorities.
In the Budget, ''We are saying pay tax for the income generated in India'', she said in a clarification.
"If you have a property in India and have got a rent through it, therefore, you carry this income too. It means no tax there or no tax here (India). We have corrected this because this income is in the jurisdiction of India," she pointed out.
The government here is not taxing what the NRI is earning elsewhere, she said.
The Union Budget 2020-21 proposed to tax Indians who are not residents in India, but "their earnings" will be taxed.
With a slew of measures to boost the Indian economy suffering from a slowdown, the Finance minister has announced the launch of a new personal income tax regime which can help the middle-class save taxes.
Regarding changed income tax slabs and rates for those foregoing exemptions, deductions, Ms Sitharaman said the new personal income tax regime will be optional.
''It will be obvious to anyone that because the (tax) cuts are deeper in the new scheme, we believe that taxpayer will be better off coming into the new scheme,'' she said.
Sitharaman said people will benefit with some exemptions which are allowed in the new system which are allowed in the old system. In all, there are 120 exemptions.
''The new system has no exemptions but there are few exemptions we have allowed. I believe that many of the calculations which have taken place have probably not taken on board that set of assumptions which we have allowed in the new system,'' she maintained.
She said the purpose of the new scheme is two-fold -- One is simplication of the process and secondly remove all exemptions.
Government intends to remove all income tax exemptions in the long run, she stated.
To maximise their benefits from the new tax regime, taxpayers must understand what it means to claim or not claim deductions, since the new benefits are available only to those who don’t claim deductions.
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