Govt sets up two panels to reform tax policy

 Committed to bringing about structural modifications in tax policy, the government Tuesday set up two committees, one of which will be headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley himself.

While all important tax related decisions will be taken by Tax Policy Council headed by the finance minister, the other panel Tax Policy Research Unit headed by Revenue Secretary will assist TPC in taking important decisions. TPC will, however, be advisory in nature.

“The Tax Policy Council will look at all the research findings coming from Tax Policy Research (TPRU) Unit and suggest broad policy measures for taxation. The Council will be advisory in nature, which will help the Government in identifying key policy decisions for taxation,” a finance ministry statement said.

Under the current structure, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) are assisted by a Tax Research Unit (TRU) and Tax Policy and Legislation (TPL), respectively. Taxation proposals of the two boards are sent to the finance minister separately.

Under the revamped structure, TPRU will comprise of officers from both CBDT, CBEC as well as economists, statisticians, researchers and legal experts. The new committees are a follow up of Parthasarthy Shome panel  recommendations on tax reforms.

The TPC, to be headed by Finance Minister, would have nine members - Minister of State for Finance, NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman, Commerce Minister, Chief Economic Advisor and Finance Secretary. It would also have secretaries from the department of Revenue, DEA, DIPP and Ministry of Commerce.