Tax Code legislation by monsoon session in 2010

"We are hoping that by the 2010 monsoon session it should be a legislation," Joint Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Arobind Modi, said at a seminar on Direct Tax Code Bill, in Mumbai.

The Bill will be introduced in Parliament in the coming Winter Session, Modi said. The government was trying to put together everything by mid-night of March 31, 2011, so that there is no ambiguity during its implementation, he said.

"After we draft the rules, we will put it in public domain for suggestions," Modi said, adding "we hope to wrap it up before mid-night of March 31, 2011."

Modi said that some 200-odd changes relating to typo and sentence constructions were already identified and there were some 1,000-1,500 such changes expected to be carried out, he said.

Modi said that the proposed direct tax code is needed to be looked at from the long-term perspective and not merely on a year-on-year basis as it provides stability in the tax regime.