Panaji: The GCCI, in its pre-Budget memorandum to the finance ministry, has called for additional fields in the new Income Tax return form to assist Goan taxpayers claiming exemption under section 10 of the IT Act 2025.
The memorandum states that Goan residents presently governed by section 10 of the Act (earlier section 5A of the IT Act, 1961) owing to the operation of the Portuguese Civil Code.
“The centre has already implemented helpful steps such as aligning the due dates of both spouses when one is subject to tax audit, and introducing a checkbox on the e-filing portal and ITR forms to indicate coverage under section 5A. However, the present return formats do not contain specific columns for reporting the half-share of income attributable to each spouse,” said the industry body.
The memorandum states that the absence of specific fields often leads to mismatches between the IT return and the Annual Information Statement, resulting in defective or faulty processing of returns for Goan couples governed by the Civil Code.
GCCI’s memorandum for Budget 2026-27, to be announced on February 1, 2026, also highlights the proliferation of multiple TDS and TCS categories with differing thresholds and withholding rates. There are more than 50 types of TDS and TCS, which has significantly increased compliance costs, clerical errors, and characterisation disputes between deductors and deductees, said the industry body.
GCCI suggested consolidating various TDS/TCS categories into a smaller set with uniform thresholds and rates. “The rates for TDS should not exceed 2 per cent. A high threshold of transactions per party should be established, for instance TDS for contractors, commission and professionals could be combined into one category,” said GCCI.
The memorandum also advocates a simpler and more predictable tax and regulatory environment for individuals, MSMEs, and industries. GCCI suggested a tax rate of 25 per cent for partnership firms and LLPs and a reduction in tax for individuals earning above Rs 25 lakh, presently taxed at 30 per cent. It adds that many taxpayers experienced delays in receiving refunds for assessment year 2025-26.
