To provide relief to the middle class, FM has rationalized slab rates under the new tax regime and allowed additional standard deduction of 25,000 under it. This effectively increases the total standard deduction to 75,000. The new tax regime continues to be the default regime.
Under the new tax regime for 2024-25, individuals can save as much as 17,500 in taxes with these changes. ● Rationalization of holding period for various assets with respect to capital gains has been proposed: 12 months for all listed securities (short term) and 24 months for all other assets (long term). Hence, the holding period for assets such as bonds, debentures, gold will reduce from 36 months to 24 months to be considered long term.
For unlisted shares and immovable property, it remains at 24 months. ● Short-term capital gains tax rates on sale of assets such as equity shares on which Securities Transaction Tax (STT) is paid and equity-oriented mutual funds, has increased to 20% from the existing 15%. Short-term capital gains on sale of other financial assets will be taxed at applicable rates.
● The FM announced that long-term capital gains on sale of all listed financial and non-financial assets will attract a tax rate of 12.5%. Also, indexation benefit is no longer available for long-term capital assets, barring property acquired prior to 2001.
Unlisted debentures and unlisted bonds are of the nature of debt instruments and therefore any capital gains on them will be taxed at applicable .