India govt panel recommends across board corporate tax cut to 25%
NEW DELHI: An Indian government panel has recommended cutting the corporate tax rate to 25 per cent from 30 per cent for all companies and scrapping surcharges on tax payments, an official said yesterday, as part of a major overhaul of the six-decades old tax act.
India has one of the highest corporate tax rates in the world even after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman this year cut the rate to 25 per cent from 30 per cent for companies with annual sales of up to 4 billion rupees (S$77 million).
The panel headed by Mr Akhilesh Ranjan, a member of the central board of direct taxes, delivered its report to Ms Sitharaman on Monday.
It was not made public and a finance ministry spokesman declined to comment on its contents.
A finance ministry source who reviewed the report said it recommended an overhaul of the Income Tax Act.
"The committee has said the government should move away from surcharges on income and reduce corporate tax to 25 per cent," the source who declined to be identified told Reuters.
India imposes a 30 per cent corporate tax rate on domestic companies and 40 per cent on foreign firms, plus a 4 per cent health and education surcharge on total tax payments.- REUTERS
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