Budget 2009 - Direct Tax Overview

· Threshold limit of exemption from personal income tax in the case of all assesses
increased to Rs.150,000.
The slabs and rates of tax are:
Up to Rs.150,000 NIL
Rs.150,001 to Rs.300,000 10 per cent
Rs.300,001 to Rs.500,000 20 per cent
Rs.500,001 and above 30 per cent

· In case of a woman assessee, the threshold limit increased from Rs.145,000 to
Rs.180,000; for a senior citizens, the threshold limit increased from Rs.195,000 to
Rs.225,000.
· No change in the corporate income tax rates.
· No change in the rate of surcharge.
· Senior Citizen Saving Scheme 2004 and the Post Office Time Deposit Account
Added to the basket of saving instruments under Section 80C of the Income Tax
Act.
· Additional deduction of Rs.15,000 allowed under Section 80D to an individual
· Paying medical insurance premium for his/her parent or parents.
· Income Tax Act to be amended to provide that reverse mortgage would not amount
To "transfer"; and the stream of revenue received by the senior citizen would not be "income".
· Tax income arising from saplings or seedlings grown in a nursery exempted.
· Business of production of seeds and manufacture of agricultural implements added
to the list of companies allowed weighted deduction of 150 per cent on any expenditure on in-house scientific research.
· Benefit of amortisation of certain preliminary expenses under Section 35D allowed
to assesses in the services sector.
· Corporate debt instruments issued in demat form and listed on recognised stock
exchanges exempted from TDS.
· Crèche facilities, sponsorship of an employee-sportsperson, organising sports events
for employees and guest houses excluded from the purview of FBT.Parent company allowed to set off the dividend received from its subsidiary company against dividend distributed by the parent company; provided that the dividend received has suffered DDT and the parent company is not a subsidiary of another company.
· Insert a new sub-section (11C) in Section 80-IB to grant a five year tax holiday to
hospitals located in any place outside the urban agglomerations especially in tier-2 and tier-3 towns; this window will be open for the period April 1, 2008 to March
31, 2013.
· Five year holiday from income tax being granted to two, three or four star hotels established in specified districts having UNESCO-declared 'World Heritage Sites';
The hotel should be constructed and start functioning during the period April 1, 2008 to March 31, 2013.
· Coir Board included in Section 10(29A) and exempted from income tax.
· Rate of tax on short term capital gains under Section 111A & Section 115AD increased to 15 per cent.
· STT paid to be treated like any other deductible expenditure against business income;
Levy of STT, in the case of options to be only on premium, where the option is not exercised; liability to be on the seller; where the option is exercised, levy to be on the settlement price and the liability on the buyer; no change in the present rates.
· Commodities Transaction Tax (CTT) to be introduced on the same lines as STT on
Options and futures.
· Law being amended to exclude entities carrying on regular trade, commerce or
Business or providing services in relation to any trade, commerce or business and earning incomes from claiming that their purposes also fall under "charitable Purpose"; Genuine charitable organizations not to be affected in any way.
· Banking Cash Transaction Tax (BCTT) being withdrawn with effect from
April 1, 2009.

Gtalk - Invisible Chat Option

Gmail’s built-in chat has now added a new status – "invisible", which does exactly the same thing. You can appear offline to your contacts by choosing "invisible" from the drop down status menu. With the invisible status, your contacts can’t see you online, but you’ll still be able to see their presence or even chat with them.

Currently this optionisnot availablein Google Talk’s standalone client or gadget.

I think, Google seems to have forgotten about Google Talk desktop client.