The Government proposes to permit taxpayers to file an updated return on payment of additional tax within two years from the end of the relevant assessment year announced the Union Finance & Corporate Affairs Minister Nirmala Sitharaman while presenting the Union Budget 2022-23 in the Parliament today. She said this would give taxpayers an opportunity to correct any omissions or mistakes incorrectly estimating their income for tax payment. She pointed out that currently if the department finds out that some income has been missed out by the assessee, it goes through a lengthy process of adjudication, the new proposal would repose trust in the taxpayer. She said “It is an affirmative step in the direction of voluntary tax compliance”
Tax Relief to Persons with Disability
The law currently provides for deduction to the parent or guardian when they take an insurance scheme for the differently abled person only if the lump sum payment or annuity is available to the differently abled person on the death of the subscriber. Pointing out that there could be situations where differently abled dependants may need payment of annuity or lump sum amount even during the lifetime of their parents/guardians, Smt. Sitharaman announced that the Government proposes to allow the payment of annuity and lump sum amount to the differently abled dependent during the lifetime of parents/guardians, on subscribers attaining the age of sixty years.
“I was happy to note the government decided to launch a national Tele Mental Health Program. The open program for the National Digital Health ecosystem is a welcome step given the widespread devastation caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, especially on the mental health of people across all age groups, from kids to senior citizens. Of course, much will depend on the quality of its implementation inequitably providing counseling and care services to people across the length and breadth of the country. Another welcome move is the decision to provide tax relief for the differently-abled and their dependents. Having said that, it was disappointing not to hear of any announcement on many critical areas facing the healthcare industry, like the urgent need to raise healthcare expenditure to at least around 2.5% of GDP. Given the chronic issues facing healthcare in India, 1.8 percent falls short of addressing the lingering challenges on the ground. We also need universal health coverage to enforce uniformity of treatment through cross-subsidy, devoid of financial strain and debt traps for the economically challenged. I was also expecting heartening policy measures on many other key issues; like the investments in tech-enabled systems using predictive genomics to fight the evolving mutations and likelihood of newer microorganisms, rationalization of the tax structure around life-saving drugs and emergency treatments, as also lowering of GST slabs and raising of tax deduction limits that are imperative to serve the larger cause of insurance,” said Dr. B S Ajaikumar, Executive Chairman, HealthCare Global Enterprises Limited.
Holistic Approach to Healthcare. #AatmaNirbharBharatKaBudget pic.twitter.com/TJ8KRLsWAp
— Office of Dr Mansukh Mandaviya (@OfficeOf_MM) February 1, 2022
Dinesh Chauhan, CEO, CORE Diagnostics says, “We congratulate the government for presenting a dynamic budget with a major focus on strengthening the healthcare sector. Budget 22 is visionary and focused on implementing major steps to revitalize the healthcare industry including driving healthcare penetration underpinned by technology thrust and access. The national digital health ecosystem is a strong move to enable equitable access to healthcare services as well as towards creating a robust healthcare ecosystem. The introduction of National Tele Mental health to access quality mental health services is a much-appreciated move, considering the rise of pandemic accentuated mental health problems in India. While there has been no significant announcement related to the Diagnostics sector, it is encouraging to see the government focusing on the PPP model and digital health which will further ensure accessibility and availability of quality healthcare services in remote locations. We will continue to bring significant change in the diagnostics space with our continued investments in developing sophisticated diagnostics for early detection and outcome-based line of treatment for patients.”
