NRIs bat for removal of new tax
Thursday, 30/10/2014
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JALANDHAR: The centre’s recent decision to impose service tax on remittances has not gone down well with the non-resident Indian (NRI) community in the Doaba region with those NRIs and expatriates resenting the extra cost that it imposes on them one way or the other. A number of NRIs with families made a representation to NRI Sabha Punjab on Wednesday, demanding that the step be taken back.
Representatives from Hoshiarpur, Jalandhar, Amritsar, Nawanshahr, Ludhiana and Kapurthala were present at the meeting, where a memorandum was handed over to NRI Sabha president Jasvir Singh Gill.
The memorandum stated that the new tax would be a hurdle in the free flow of foreign exchange to the country. NRIs in all countries already pay a tax when they send any remit the country’s currency back to their home land and the new levy will adversely impact the families who need every dollar of the fund, the memorandum added.
“The NRIs who send money from aboard are people who had left their country in search of better life prospects. The remittances are regular source of livelihood for millions of households.” Gill said, that it was very likely that the burden of the levy would be passed on to the consumer.