Rakesh Bhargava, Director, Taxmann, Reacts to Budget 2018

In contrast to the expectations, nothing much has been proposed in personal taxation. There is no change in the rate of tax for all individuals whether male /female resident, senior citizen or super senior citizen. Moreover, the rate of education cess has been increased from 3% to 4%. Standard deductions of Rs. 40,000 has been reintroduced for salaried employees. These additional deductions have been proposed in lieu of existing deductions of Rs. 15,000 and Rs. 19,600 for medical reimbursements and transport allowance respectively.
The Finance Minister has made clear in today’s budget speech that the government does not consider crypto currencies as a legal tender. Further he said that Government will work towards eliminating illicit transactions going on through crypto assets. SEBI, the Financial regulator can regulate on crypto currencies only when it falls under the definition of ‘commodity’. SEBI along with RBI had formed committee earlier which is yet to draft a framework to regulate the crypto currencies in India. We can expect amendments in coming time in various laws such as SEBI Act, Securities Contract Regulation Act, and Prevention of Money Laundering Act, to curb the use of crypto currencies which are being used to fund illegitimate transactions