« Top Headlines » Open DEMAT Account in 24 hrs  Budget 2024 makes new income tax regime more attractive: See how much taxes you can now save  ITR filing 2024: New vs old income tax regimes, 6 key things to consider while filing your tax return  These five technical glitches may impact your Income tax return (ITR) filing. Know here  ITR filing 2023-24: How to optimise Section 80D deductions at the time of filing tax returns  ITR filing 2023-24: Top 7 mistakes to avoid for hassle-free income-tax return filing this year  Income tax returns for FY 2023-24: Keep these 8 tax law changes in mind while filing ITR this year  ITR Filing 2024: Know who can and cannot file income tax returns using ITR-1 this year  Income Tax Filing: 10 necessary guidelines that you must be aware of  Why you should file your income tax returns before July 31  What is Form 26AS? How to download Form 26AS to file Income Tax Return (ITR)  Income Tax Return: What are the alternatives to Form 16 that can be used while filing ITR? «  I-T dept hot on trail of tax dodgers... Plea to notify service tax exemption... » PwC suggests gradual shift to unified GST June, 07th 2007 India, which plans to shift to unified goods and services tax regime by 2010, needs to make sure that the change is gradual and manageable rather than causing major upheaval by being excessively radical, according to a PricewaterhouseCoopers report. Replacing the current arcane system with a more simple and transparent indirect tax regime is a stated policy aim but this has to be balanced against the need to make sure that the change is gradual and manageable rather than causing major upheaval by being excessively radical. While the benefits of establishing GST across the country are clear, the approach is best characterised as evolutionary rather than revolutionary, S Madhvan, indirect tax leader, PwC India said in the report. He said rather than being a new indirect tax, the introduction of GST will be, in effect, an integration and rationalisation of the existing regimes at both the federal and state levels. Indias policymakers have recognised that as an increasingly important international market and the destination for considerable foreign investment, India needs to provide a tax regime that, to the greatest extent possible, integrates with the rest of the world, he said. The global report Shifting the balance the evolution of indirect taxes notes that India always placed a greater reliance on indirect taxes than direct taxes and, if anything, the trend observed in other countries of a move towards a higher proportion of indirect taxes is reversed in India. It has historically been easier to tax the consumption of goods and services indirectly than trying to tax incomes, he added. Cautioning that VAT systems can be regressive in nature and also potentially inflationary, the report recommends that governments considering the introduction of such systems to enhance global tax competitiveness need to bear in mind measures that will ensure a level of welfare for the lower paid individual taxpayers, including the potential for applying reduced tax rates or even zero tax rates for basic goods and services or those supporting other social aims such as relieving the burden on the elderly or disabled.