"OFFER MORE SOPS FOR THE NEW TAX REGIME”

Dinesh Kanabar, CEO of Dhruva Advisors, on the tax-related measures expected in the Budget, reforms, and more

- BY KRISHNA GOPALAN

WITH THE BUDGET set to be announced on February, there is a lot of speculation over the potential changes to the tax structure, with increasing demand from taxpayers for some relief. Dinesh Kanabar, Chief Executive Officer of professional services firm Dhruva Advisors, speaks to Business Today on what needs to be done, how taxes can be simplified and compliance burden eased. Edited excerpts:

From a tax point of view, what are the broad areas that the government should address in this year's Budget? When the Finance Minister presents the Budget for 2025-26, there will be significant expectations in direct taxes.

This is particularly relevant because in last year's Budget, she explicitly stated that simplification of tax laws was high on the government's agenda.

In that Budget, several changes were made to simplify the capital gains tax regime. Following this, suggestions were invited from the chambers of commerce, professional bodies, firms, and taxpayers on what they would like to see in the tax laws in terms of simplification.

Since then, over a thousand presentations have been received, suggesting a wide range of changes.

It will be interesting to observe how many of these will be incorporated in the upcoming Budget and how many are deferred for future implementation.

What are the critical areas that need to be addressed in terms of changes to the Income Tax Act?