As someone said and I quote ‘A fine is a tax for doing something wrong and a tax is a fine for doing something right’. Though this is how it appears to the individual, it's key to creating progress. Taxes on income and wealth in some form or the other were levied since ancient times to redistribute income and is a necessity for any government to carry out their projects and chart out the future of a nation.
With runaway inflation and pressure to provide an economic boost to the nation would the taxpayers get a much-needed respite?
Close on the heels of the Union budget presented by the Finance Minister of India on Feb 1 2023, the sixth of BWS Expert talks ‘Make your taxes less taxing’ drew a sizeable audience with more than 60 participants. Ms Smitha Shailesh is a qualified Chartered Accountant with an independent practice for 25 years, handling Audits, Accounting, GST, and Taxation and Formation of Private Companies, Partnership firms, OPCs, LLPs, Sole Proprietorships, Trusts and Societies and Apartment Welfare Associations.
Smitha’s talk addressed 2 major areas of taxation which related well with the BWS audience, one regarding salaried individuals and the other with respect to senior citizens. She talked about the choice of filing returns under the old and new regimes and how the selection should be made wisely based on the income tax bracket and other considerations. She took us through all the relevant sections of IT Filing and included some handy quick tips to lessen the tax burden.
A key takeaway is that the new regime, the default regime from the next financial year didn’t support investments overspend. Another important revelation was regarding the Annual Income statement which meant the government could pull up all the income related to an individual based on his pan card number. Hence it meant that all income including savings accounts must be declared to make it the first time right and minimize corrections. Also, those who plan to purchase electric vehicles must complete the purchase by 31st March 2023 to avail of the deduction under 80EEB.
It was a very practical and fruitful session with many creative questions from the anxious audience which were put to rest by Smitha. In addition to this engaging session, she also happily offered to answer any one-to-one tax-related questions offline. With tax season coming soon, BWS may have a follow-up Q&A session around that time to help with tax filing for 2022-23.
Ms Smitha Shailesh offers consultancy to businesses and individuals; those who wish to avail of her services can leave a comment below with contact details.
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