TDS mandatory for payments exceeding Rs 50 lakh to contractors, professionals

New Delhi: To widen the tax net, the government proposed to introduce 5 per cent TDS on all payments made by individuals to contractors or professionals in excess of Rs 50 lakh a year.

To make it easy for them, the government said the tax deduction at source (TDS) could be deposited in the treasury using his or her permanent account number (PAN) only.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also proposed in the Budget 2019-20 that filing of income tax return will be mandatory for people depositing more than Rs 1 crore in current account, spending over Rs 1 lakh towards electricity bill payment and Rs 2 lakh on foreign travel in a year.

Currently, there is no requirement for an individual or Hindu Undivided Family (HUF) to deduct tax at source on payments made to a resident contractor or professional when it is for personal use, or if the individual or HUF is not subjected to audit for his business or profession.

"It is proposed to insert a new provision making it obligatory for such individual or HUF to deduct tax at source at the rate of five per cent if the annual payment made to a contractor or professional exceeds Rs 50 lakh," said the Budget document.

For the purpose of TDS, payment made for acquisition of immovable property would also include other charges incidental to the purchase of the property.

Such charges include club membership fee, car parking fee, electricity and water facility fee, maintenance fee, and advance fee.

The Budget also proposed to tax gifts in the form of money or property situated in India by residents to non-residents. Sitharaman proposed to tax such gifts from on or after July 5, 2019.

In a move towards simplification of income tax return filing, the government proposed interchangeability of PAN and Aadhaar. This would enable a person who does not have PAN but has Aadhaar to use Aadhaar in place of PAN under the Income Tax Act.

The government, however, added that the income tax department would not allot PAN to such person on the basis of Aadhaar after obtaining demographic data from the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).

It is also proposed to provide that a person who has already linked his Aadhaar with his PAN may at his option, use Aadhaar in place of PAN, the Budget document said.