Although the finance minister did not make any change to the income tax structure, as he was presenting an interim budget, Piyush Goyal in Budget 2019 announced significant reliefs to individual income taxpayers in the last budget of the current Modi government.
The Budget 2019 announced a full rebate of income tax for income up to ₹5 lakh. This will mean that individual taxpayers up to a gross income of ₹6.5 lakhs will need not pay any income tax if they make investments in provident fund and prescribed equities. Around 3 crore middle-class taxpayers will get tax exemption due to this measure.
The standard deduction for salaried income has also been raised to ₹50,000 from current ₹40,000. The finance minister also announced tax relief on interest income, as TDS threshold on interest on bank and post office deposits raised from ₹10,000 to ₹40,000. This means if the interest earned on deposits made at banks and post offices remain below ₹40,000, there will no TDS deduction on the interest paid.
Similarly, TDS threshold on rental income raised from ₹1.8 lakh to ₹2.4 lakh. Benefits under section 80(i)BA is also being extended for one more year, for all housing projects approved till the end of 2019-2020.
