Taxpayers, eagerly looking for a fresh set of tax breaks in a Covid-battered year, wore glum faces at the end of Nirmala Sitharaman’s budget speech.

There were as many as 79 amendments to the Income Tax Act alone but almost all of these were designed to simplify tax compliance, with the finance minister preferring to stick to the old tax regime.

At the same time, the spook was exorcised: there will be no Covid cess that many had feared might be slapped on the rich.

The phantom of a tax on billionaires’ wealth — an idea that suddenly sprang into reckoning after Washington became the first state in the US to move such a bill to tax the fat cats —was also laid to rest.

One of the major changes in the budget relates to the filing of income-tax returns by senior citizens. The finance minister said in her speech that taxpayers aged 75 years and above will not be required to file their returns. But this relief comes with a set of conditions.

The senior citizens should only earn income in the form of pension. They can also have interest income from the same bank in which they receive their pension.

The banks in which these incomes are received will have to be “specified banks” — with the government due to notify the list soon.

If the senior citizen has any other income, he will be required to file his income-tax return. The specified bank has to compute the taxable income and will have to deduct tax at source after allowing permissible deductions and rebate.

At present, under section 80EEA of the Income Tax Act, there is a reduction of Rs 1.5 lakh for interest on home loans if the loan is sanctioned within March 31, 2021. The date has now been extended by one year. This deduction is available only to first-time homebuyers and the stamp duty value of such residential house should not exceed Rs 45 lakh. The taxpayer should not own any other flat on the date of sanction of the loan.

The finance minister should have increased the amount of value of the flat to Rs 1 crore considering the pricing realities in the residential housing market.

The finance minister has allowed a safe harbour limit of up to 20 per cent if there is a difference in stamp duty value and the sale consideration of immovable property, with the accompanying rider that the transfer should have taken place between November 12, 2020, and June 30, 2021. This is in line with the assurance given earlier.

However, the outer date should have been extended by at least five years as the stamp duty valuation is much higher than the prevailing market price. There is no scientific mechanism to fix stamp duty value.

The time limits have been decreased for many provisions. The returns can be revised three months before the end of the assessment year or before completion of assessment, whichever is earlier. The existing timeframe is up to the end of the assessment year.

The time limit for sending a notice for scrutiny assessment has been reduced to three months from the end of the financial year in which the return has been filed. Earlier, this limit was six months.

If a return is filed in FY 2020-21, the notice for scrutiny assessment may be sent by June 30, 2021, and not thereafter. Likewise, the intimation cannot be sent after the expiry of nine months from the end of the financial year in which the return has been made.

The finance minister has lowered the time limit for reopening tax assessment for prior periods from six years to three years. But if there is evidence of undisclosed income of Rs 50 lakh or more for a year, the tax department will be permitted to reopen a case dating back 10 years.

A Section 206AB has been introduced where there is a higher rate of TDS for non-filers of income-tax returns. The TDS rate will be twice the existing rates in force or 5 per cent, whichever is higher.

A proposal has been put in place for a National Faceless Appellate Tribunal along the lines of faceless assessments and appeals.

• The writer is a tax advocate