WEALTH TAX

• With the latest proposal in the Union Budget to impose one per cent wealth tax on agriculture land falling within 8 km of municipal limits turning into a political hot button issue, Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram assured that the Centre would not impose wealth tax on agricultural land in the country.

 WEALTH TAX:

• Wealth tax is a direct tax, which is charged on the net wealth of the assessee.
• It is a tax on the benefits derived from ownership of property. The tax is to be paid year after year on the same property on its market value, whether or not such property yields any income.
• Wealth tax, in India, is levied under Wealth-tax Act, 1957.

•   The assets chargeable to wealth tax are :-

1. Guest house, residential house, commercial building
2. Motor car
3. Jewellery, bullion, utensils of gold, silver etc
4. Yachts, boats and aircrafts
5. Urban land
6. Cash in hand(in excess of 50,000), only for Individual & Hindu Undivided Family (HUF)

 The following will not be included in Assets :-

• Any of the above if held as Stock in trade.
• A house held for business or profession.
• Any property in nature of commercial complex.
• A house let out for more than 300 days in a year.
• Gold deposit bond
• Wealth tax is not levied on productive assets, hence investments in shares, debentures, UTI, mutual funds, etc are exempt from it

 WEALTH TAX ISSUE:

• As part of the Chelliah Committee recommendations, the wealth tax on unproductive assets was levied in 1992. These assets included farmhouses, motor cars (except those not used for earning livelihood), yachts, boats
• Finance Act 1992 excluded some lands while defining what urban land is
• The exempted list, however, had no mention of agriculture land. As the farmland was not exempted, income tax officials are free to assess tax on farm land within notified municipal limits and around cities

 FINANCE BILL 2013:

• Wealth tax won’t be levied on agricultural land even if it is located in the vicinity of urban centres within municipal limits. The government made this clear in the Lok Sabha by introducing an amendment to the Finance Bill 2013 and stating that wealth tax was to be imposed only on urban lands.

• Urban lands did not include agricultural lands registered as such in state records and used for agricultural purposes.

Thirty-Five students from Abhimanu's IAS Study Group Chandigarh have made it to the civil services creating record of sorts in the Northern Region of country.

By Gagandeep Sohal
Chandigarh, May 5 : Thirty-two students from Abhimanu's IAS Study Group Chandigarh have made it to the civil services creating record of sorts in the Northern Region of country.
16 of the selected students were felicitated today by the Home Secretary, UT, Chandigarh Anil Kumar. Speaking at the occasion, the vice president, Abhimanyu's IAS Study Group Raj Malhotra said Abhimanu's IAS has produced with panache a total of 32 selections out of a total of 36 known, who have made it to the final tally from the whole north region. Student Dr Ankita Chakarvaty has scored all India 17th rank and besides her there are three selections in top 100.
Parth Gupta has secured rank 59, Kriti Garg has secured rank 80, Kritika Batra has secured rank 103, Preeti Goyal has secured rank 115, Aanchal Sood has secured Rank 184, Amanat Mann has secured rank 194, Gurinder Pal has secured Rank 201, Suniti has secured rank 208, Nidhi Khera has secured rank 213, Khyati Garg has secured rank 215, Ramandeep Kaur has secured Rank 272 and Kamaljot Kaur has secured rank 638. All they rankers were felicitated today. In the previous PCS results over 45% of the total successful candidates were from Abhimanu's IAS. The key to Abhimanu's IAS students' success is a system of organized lectures having work sheets, work books and main study material booklets. Besides this the institute offers sound and fool-proof testing system including All India online test series, student support system through online mode, online video classes and many others. It has a seasoned faculty strength of over 30 people who have been drawn from their subject areas of specialization after a thorough screening and pruning system. The faculty system is designed in such a way so as to provide personal care to the student. "An academic team of over 10 people (content development and standardization) coupled with a strength of over 25 non-teaching staff have all been instrumental in making Abhimanu Visions what it is today," he added. Also fulfilling the objective of corporate social responsibility Abhimanu's provide scholarships to economically weaker sections which even goes to 100%. Discounts are given to economically weaker sections. It has a well stocked library is maintained at sector 24 centre , where the students can sit and study in peaceful environment.