Direct Taxes Code Bill has lapsed: Jaitley

The Direct Tax­es Code (DTC) Bill 2010 has lapsed with the dis­so­lu­tion of the 15th Lok Sab­ha, Par­lia­ment was informed on Fri­day. Finance Min­is­ter Arun Jait­ley con­veyed this to the Low­er House in a writ­ten reply in response to a ques­tion on whether DTC imple­men­ta­tion would make avoid­ing tax tougher for for­eign companies.

The Modi-led Government—which has com­plet­ed six months in office– is yet to take a call on whether a new Bill to replace the exist­ing income tax law need to be intro­duced or not. While the new Gov­ern­ment is keen to fast tract goods and ser­vices tax (GST) imple­men­ta­tion, it is not show­ing any urgency when it came to enact­ing a new income tax law.

The erst­while UPA regime had in August 2010 intro­duced the Direct Tax­es Code (DTC) Bill. Billed as one of the sig­nif­i­cant tax reforms ini­ti­at­ed by the UPA regime, the Direct Tax­es Code Bill 2010 sought to ush­er in a new income tax code for the coun­try. Along with goods and ser­vices tax (GST) intro­duc­tion, enact­ment of a new income tax law topped the reform agen­da of the erst­while UPA regime.