'Centre sets up high-level panel to look into MAT'

 Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced setting up of a high-level committee to look into the minimum alternate tax and other taxation issues troubling foreign investors, while replying to a debate on the Finance Bill in the Rajya Sabha.

“We have decided to refer this matter of payment of MAT by FIIs as well as few other tax issues, which are essentially legacy issues, to a committee headed by justice A P Shah, the chairman of the Law Commission,” Jaitley said.

“The committee is requested to give its recommendation of the specific issues of MAT on FIIs expeditiously. The government will consider the recommendations of the committee and take an appropriate decision as early as possible,” he said.

The Rajya Sabha later returned the Bill, already passed by the Lok Sabha, thus completing the budgetary exercise for 2015-16.

Replying on the tax issues further, the Finance Minister urged the opposition to support the government wholeheartedly in passage of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) so that it did not miss the 2016 deadline.

Jaitley said missing the April 1, 2016, deadline for GST implementation will not be a right signal to investors and will put a break on India growth story.

On the issue of black money, Jaitley said that the government was taking a number of measures to squeeze black money from the system. But he rejected the demand for relaxing the PAN card requirement for payments above Rs 1 lakh.