MUMBAI, June 2: While welcoming most of the proposals in the finance bill regarding Income Tax, tax consultants have now begun to read the fine print. According to K Shivram, chairman of the All India Federation of Tax Practitioners, the proposed bill has introduced a fee payable for appeals, including first appeals. ``This is not in the interest of the assessee, particularly the individual assessee,'' he said.Shivram said the Federation was seriously considering challenging the provision, as it was also discriminatory. ``Only the assessee is going to pay a fee for seeking justice. When the department goes in appeal, they will not be paying anything,'' he pointed out.Also the limit of fees payable at the stage of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal has been raised to Rs 10,000, which practitioners consider steep.Y P Trivedi, president of the Indian Merchants' Chamber said scrapping of the Gift Tax Act was no relief because now the recipient of the gift would be liable under the Income Tax Act. He alsothought the provision for fees at the stage of first appeal was unfair.He said the Finance minister's refusal to allow deduction on extortion money paid was also disappointing particularly after the courts had taken a different view. (The ITAT had allowed extortion money as a deduction in a case in Mumbai last year). The professionals were however still at a loss about what the concept of `Sanman' of the tax payer entailed.
