Business of Plying, Hiring or Leasing Goods Carriages

     The existing provisions of section 44AE of the Act provides for presumptive taxation in the case of an assessee who is engaged in the business of plying, hiring or leasing goods carriages and not owning more than ten goods carriages at any time during the previous year. Income from the said business is calculated as under:

Type of Goods carriage	Amount of presumptive income
Heavy goods vehicle (HGV)	Rs.5,000 for every month (or part of a month) during which the goods carriage is owned by the taxpayer.
Vehicle other than HGV	₹ 4,500 for every month (or part of a month) during which the goods carriage is owned by the taxpayer.

     The amount of presumptive income was revised by the Finance (No.2) Act, 2009. Further, the existing provisions make a distinction between HGV and vehicle other than HGV for specifying the amount of presumptive income.

     Considering the erosion in the real values of the amount of specified presumptive income due to inflation over the years and also in order to simplify this presumptive taxation scheme, it is proposed to provide for a uniform amount of presumptive income of ₹ 7,500 for every month (or part of a month) for all types of goods carriage without any distinction between HGV and vehicle other than HGV.

     This amendment will take effect from 1st April, 2015 and will, accordingly, apply in relation to the assessment year 2015-16 and subsequent years.

[Clause 16]

Presumptive taxation for goods carriages adopts a uniform monthly presumptive income, simplifying calculation and addressing erosion. Presumptive taxation for businesses plying, hiring or leasing goods carriages removes the distinction between heavy goods vehicles and other vehicles and replaces differing monthly presumptive amounts with a uniform specified monthly presumptive income for all goods carriages, aiming to simplify the section 44AE regime and address inflationary erosion of prior amounts.