Union Budget 2018-2019. Here Are The Major Highlights Which You Need To Know

Today, finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced the Union Budget 2018 and the major focus was on farm distress as well as the stressful fiscal situation.

This was the 5th and the last budget of Modi Government; the main aim of the government is to attract small business owners. No changes were made in the personal income tax slabs.

The finance minister said that new opportunities will be given for rural India and that farmers and dalits will benefit immensely from the same. Moreover, use of cryptocurrency was declared illegal in India; many investors are investing their money in cryptocurrency like Bitcoin and others, but after this budget, the usage has been termed “Illegal”.

Even the Make In India campaign has received a boost from this budget; custom duty on mobiles has been increased, so if you want to buy foreign mobiles, the cost will be more.

The government on Thursday reintroduced Long Term Capital Gains (LTCG) tax in Union Budget 2018-19.

Long term capital gains exceeding Rs 1 lakh on sale of equity shares/units of Equity oriented Fund are proposed to be taxed at 10% without allowing any indexation benefit, said Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in Lok Sabha  during his Budget speech.

“I propose to tax such long term capital gains exceeding Rs 1 lakh at the rate of 10% without allowing the benefit of any indexation. However, all gains up to 31 January, 2018 will be grandfathered” Jaitley said.
Explaining the tax further, Jaitley said: If an equity share is purchased six months before 31st January, 2018 at Rs 100/- and the highest price quoted on January 31 2018 in respect of this share is Rs 120/-, there will be no tax on the gain of Rs 20/- if this share is sold after one year from the date of purchase. However, any gain in excess of Rs 20 earned after January 31, 2018 will be taxed at 10% if this share is sold after July 31, 2018. The gains from equity share held up to one year will remain short term capital gain and will continue to be taxed at the rate of 15%.

However, existing investors will be exempted from capital gains tax up to January 31, 2018.  All gains made thereafter this cut-off date will be taxed.The imposition of this tax could earn government Rs 20,000 crore in revenue during the next year.

Source : BT