Corporate taxes

摘要

Corporate income tax rates, which used to be around 50 in the early 1990s, have fallen progressively to fairly reasonable levels. This reflects the government's aim to widen the tax base and ensure greater compliance, though the untaxed underground economy remains large. The government has sometimes offered tax amnesties to bring money back into the regular economy and encourage tax payments. The current administration in particular has vowed to crack down on undisclosed income, targeting large amounts of money it claims is stashed overseas. In 2016 the government demonetised India's high-value currency notes of Rs500 and Rs1,000 in an effort to force individuals to declare undisclosed cash. Critics argue the exercise only hurt economic growth and caused unnecessary hardship, though the government says income tax authorities are probing billions in bank deposits made at the time. The government has also re-negotiated several double-tax agreements to limit tax avoidance and is cracking down on shell companies or nonfunctioning companies suspected of being conduits for illegal fund flows.