Government notifies Exemption of Income Tax for Dairy Cooperative Society

The Government of India has notified the Exemption of Income Tax for Dairy Cooperative Society.

Govt. has taken the following steps to provide relief to the Cooperative Societies under the Income Tax Act:

A primary cooperative society engaged in supplying milk to the Federal Cooperative Society is eligible to claim the deduction in respect of its entire profit relating to the supply of milk to Union’s society u/s 80P of the Income Tax Act, 1961.

The surcharge on co-operative societies has been reduced from 12% to 7% on income of more than Rs.1 crore and up to Rs.10 crore.

The rate of the Alternate Minimum Tax for cooperative societies has also been reduced from 18.5% to 15% for cooperative societies at par with companies.

Section 269T of the Income Tax Act has been amended to provide that if a Primary Agricultural Credit Society (PACS) or an Agricultural and Rural Development Bank (PCARDB) repays a deposit to its member or a loan to a PACS or a PCARDB in cash, no penalty will be imposed if the amount of the loan or deposit, including the outstanding balance, is less than Rs.2 lakh. Previously, this limit was Rs.20,000 per member.

A higher limit of Rs.3 crore for TDS on cash withdrawal has been provided for co-operative societies as against the Rs.1 crore threshold for applicability of TDS u/s 194N for other recipients.

The government provides interest subsidies to farmers for short-term crop loans of up to Rs.3 lakh at a 7% annual interest rate, and in the event of early repayment, an extra 3% interest subsidy is provided, reducing the effective rate of interest to 4%. From 2018-19, the Government of India implemented the Kisan Credit Card (KCC) scheme for Animal Husbandry and Fisheries to provide short-term working capital loans (up to Rs.2 lakh per beneficiary) on par with short-term crop loans. There is currently no such proposal under consideration.

This information was given by the Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Shri Parshottam Rupala in a written reply in Lok Sabha.