Fringe benefits tax in India: overview, collection trends and economic analysis

Abstract

Being a member of the IRS family has both its benefits as well as pitfalls in conducting any research study on taxation. The initial impetus and motivation for this study was to select a topic for master's level dissertation required for partial fulfilment of PGPPM program which I was undergoing at Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore. Over the period of time, the scope and coverage of the proposed study has enlarged. The benefits of being part of Income tax Department is that I can have (as I ultimately have)access to the tax return data available with the Income tax Department which would not, normally, be easily accessible to any outsider. The greatest problem which government employment poses is the opinion generally formed by many that the finding would be biased and would be projecting the view of the Income tax Department or Government My experience as tax administrator has only given a new and different perspective to the analysis which may not have been possible in a general research. Any research study should be judged on the basis of its research design, research methodology, quality and consistency in data analysis and in statistical methods used must say that the present research study is really a small step and there is a huge scope for conducting further meaningful study and analysis in the field of direct taxation in India which has always been a neglected research area for academics and analysts as well as in public policy institutions.