Lok Sabha Passes Finance Bill 2022

The Finance Bill was approved by the Lower House after accepting 39 official amendments moved by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and rejecting the amendments proposed by the opposition by voice vote.

Replying to a discussion on the Finance Bill, Sitharaman said India was probably the only country that did not resort to new taxes to fund the recovery of the economy hit by the Covid pandemic.

She said that according to an OECD report, as many as 32 countries have increased the tax rates after the pandemic.

"Instead, we put more money where multiplier effect would be maximum," she said while referring to the Budget's focus on raising capital expenditure.  

The government on Thursday proposed to tighten the norms for taxation of cryptocurrencies by disallowing set-off of any losses with gains from other virtual digital assets (VDAs). 

The proposed bill also aims to outlaw publishing of transaction-level information submitted to the customs department by businesses, to prevent such information from being utilised by international entities and hostile countries to the detriment of Indian firms.

The Union Budget 2022-23 had proposed taxing crypto assets at the rate of 30 per cent, effective from April 1.

It also proposed 1 per cent TDS on payments towards virtual assets beyond Rs 10,000 in a year and taxation of such gifts in the hands of recipients. The TDS provision will come to effect from July 1.

According to the Bill, a VDA could be a code or number or token which can be transferred, stored or traded electronically.

The VDAs will include prevailing cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

This was part of the 39 amendments proposed by the government to the Finance Bill, 2022.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman moved the amendment on Friday, clarifying that no tax deduction or set off would be available in place of mining cost of crypto assets and other VDAs or losses from their transfer.