The Indian tax structure has evolved over time to accommodate the government's expanding financial needs. The method is also intended to aid in the govt's achievement of its socioeconomic objectives. Tax plan is a continuous procedure that needs to be performed on a regular basis to inspect the system for updating and maintenance. The government levies a mechanism of taxes called personal income tax upon that money that people earned.

Taxpayers are obligated by law to file income tax returns each year in order to establish their tax liabilities. The Indian government relies heavily on the earnings from this as a funding source. A person's wages, salaries, as well as other forms of income, such as annuities, interests, and dividend, are all subject to this kind of income tax.

According to an analysis of Indian data from 1961-1962 through 1983-1984, tax changes must strive to increase statutory tax progressivity by greater decreases in the marginal rates of taxation at lower income levels in addition to stronger implementation of the tax rules.

Thirty years of Tax reforms in India

The author in this article is trying to focus upon the features of India's tax reform history from the middle of the 1970s to the present and discovers that, as measured by economic efficiency, equiry, built-in revenue elasticity, and transparency, significant progress has been made in the last 30 years. Moreover, the multitude of complex exclusions affecting customs tariff, the low buoyancy of excise, the integration of CENVAT with state VAT, and the broad-basing of direct taxes are some major areas that require additional change is also explained well.
 

Analysing the progressivity of Personal Income Taxes : a case study of India

In order to statistically separate the effects of income disparity and tax characteristics from their combined impact on the progressive taxation of actual personal income taxes, the above paper offers two models. It talks about that the progression of the tax is greatly influenced by the inequality in the income distribution and the graduation in the tax rates.

According to the model, income consumption taxes would result in more modifications to the tax's progressive taxation in economies with low or high levels of income inequality than they would in those with intermediate degrees of inequality.
Analysis:

Direct taxes are levied right away on a person's income. Direct taxes are levied on both individuals and corporations. New generations cannot be subjected to such taxes. For individual taxpayers like us, the income tax represents the most significant category of direct taxes. There are three different types of direct taxes in India: corporate tax, capital gains tax, and income tax.

In addition to capital gains and earnings from businesses and professionals, income tax is applied to all profits generated by individuals and HUFs. To determine income tax, the relevant slab rates for the Assessment Year are utilised. The national government releases its slab rates with each yearly budget.

The tax year in India continues from 1 April to 31 March. The ITA gives taxpayers a method for declaring their incomes, file their income tax return, and promptly pay any taxes that are required. The tax authorities remotely check the tax return to determine whereas if taxpayer cooperated with the tax regulations or paid taxes on time.

The tax authorities may choose a tax return for either a restricted scrutiny, where the evaluation is restricted to certain factors or issues, or a deep due diligence, where the factors or issues are carefully examined or evaluated. Such inspection techniques are quasi-judicial processes.

The tax authorities may, in situations where the taxpayer has not submitted a tax return, conduct an assessment using its sound judgement and calculate the amount owed by the taxpayer in accordance with that assessment. The taxpayer must generally occur personally or be represented by a designated authorized agent nominated by the taxpayer for such tax authorities to perform a review.

Yearly income tax return must be filed by all taxpayers who are subject to taxation under the ITA. Depending upon the type of taxpayer, gross income, gross turnover, and filing status, different tax filing requirements (including the format in which the tax reporting is done) apply. People who make below the specified threshold in gross total income are exempted from filing a tax return. However, business taxpayers must submit a thorough and thorough tax return.

Taxpayers who have a revenue stream of more than 10 million rupees must acquire a tax audit report from a certified accountancy. Similar to this, a professional accountant must certify that a taxpayer's specific transaction with an affiliated party was, from the standpoint of transfer pricing, conducted at arm's length. Only within set time frames, federal tax authorities examine your tax returns of various taxpayer classes based on the complexities and risks that have been identified of the taxpayer.

According to the most current information available, there have been 68.6 million total returns received underneath the ITA, of which only 0.35 percent was chosen for review. Additionally, 0.15 percent of these 0.35 percent of the returns was chosen for restricted investigation, while the other 0.20 percent were chosen for thorough scrutiny.

As a result, 99.65% of the returns were approved just as they were. Because to a retroactive rise with in monetary ceiling for administrative appeal through various appellate fora, litigation has drastically decreased in recent years. Nevertheless, there is uncertainty over the implementation predicated on search and seizure, and also situations at which an evaluation is reconsidered due to new evidence, and in these situations litigation is common in the High Courts' writ jurisdiction.

In the budget 2023 upon personal income tax finance minister mentioned that In both the old and new tax systems, people with incomes up to Rs. 5 lakh are presently exempt from paying any income tax. In the new tax system, the rebate cap was proposed to be raised to Rs.7 lakh; as a result, people having incomes up to that amount will not be subject to any taxes.

The second suggestion targets middle-class people and calls for the implementation of a new personal income tax system featuring six income tiers starting at 2.5 lakh in 2020. It was suggested that the tax system underneath this administration be altered by decreasing the number of tax slabs to 5 and raising the threshold for tax exemptions to 3 lakhs.

These new tax rates range from 0 to 3 lakhs, 0 to 6 lakhs. 5 percent, between 6 and 9 lakhs 10% Nine lakh to twelve lakh: 15% Between 12 and 15 lakhs, 20%, and over 15 lakhs, 30% All taxpayers will benefit greatly from this since under the new system, a person making Rs.95,000 a year will only have to pay Rs.45,000, which is only 5% of his or her total income.

On the $60000 that is currently due, there will be a reduction of $25. In other words, instead of sixty thousand, it is now only forty five thousand, and a person earning 15 lakh rupees would be expected to pay only 1.5 lakh, or 10 percent of that, a decrease of 20.

Third idea is to increase the standard deduction to the new tax system, which would reduce the present responsibility of 187500 rupees to 52500 rupees for the salary class and pensioners, including family pensioners. This would reduce the existing liability of 1 lakh 87500 rupees. With this, finance minister explained some other factors as well.

Conclusion:
According to me, paying income taxes is not a burden; rather, it's indeed necessary for the progress of the country. The general population must try to comprehend the value of income taxes and the way the revenue they generate is seen as helping to advance the country.

Each law-abiding person must therefore pay his income tax duties on a timely basis for our country to keep up with other industrialised countries and progress. If we began to view paying taxes as a burden and made the decision to forego doing so, our nation's growth and social cohesiveness could suffer. As a result, it's critical to pay your income taxes on a timely basis to prevent this from occurring.