Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, presenting the Union budget 2023, announced that the tax rebate of Rs 5 lakh has been increased to Rs 7 lakh.
I propose to increase the rebate limit to 7 lakh in the new tax regime, the minister said. This would mean that tax exemption has been extended to those receiving upto Rs 7 lakh.
The finance minister also reduced highest surcharge rate to 25 per cent from 37 per cent in new regime.
The new tax slabs:
0-3 lakh nil
3-6 lakh 5 per cent
6-9 lakh 10 per cent
9-12 lakh 15 per cent
12-15 lakh 20 per cent
Above 15 30 per cent
An individual with annual income of Rs 9 lakh will have to pay only Rs 45,000 in taxes, the finance minister said.
An individual with income of Rs 15 lakh will have to pay Rs 1.5 lakh tax, down from Rs 1.87 lakh under new tax structure.
The new tax structure has been made the default tax option, the fiannce minister announced.
"The new tax regime will now be the default tax regime, but citizens can still avail of benefits under old tax regime on opt-out basis," the fiance minister said.
The minister said the average processing time for ITRs (income tax returns) reduced from 93 days to 16 days.
We intend to roll out next-gen common IT Return forms and strengthen grievance redressal mechanism, the finance minister said.
