Rules affecting daily life changing from October 1

There will be some changes in the rules for products and transactions impacting the daily lives of the people from October 1.

These changes range from norms for payment of income tax, driving licence, health insurance, credit cards and food products, which affect all the consumers.

A major change that will have an impact on the lives of those with vehicles is that no physical verification of documents such driving licence or registration certificate (RC) will be required. Only a valid soft copy of these documents attached to the vehicle will do.

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has issued a notification of various such amendments made to the Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, which will come into effect from October 1. As per the notification, vehicular documents can be maintained on the Central government's online portal.

From October 1, LPG connection will not be free. Under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY), the process of getting a gas connection for free is ending on September 30, 2020.

Also, remittances abroad will become expensive from October 1, as 5 per cent tax will be levied on foreign fund transfer of above Rs 7 lakh.

Tax on foreign tour packages will be 5 per cent for any amount, and for other foreign remittances, the tax is only for above Rs 7 lakh.

On the products front, sweet sellers will need to display 'best before date'. Sweet shops will now have to declare the 'best before date' of non-packaged or loose sweets available in their shops.

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has directed the sweet shop owners to adhere to the protocol from 1 October.

As the standardisation of new health insurance rules takes place, the prices for premiums will rise by 2-5 per cent.

In addition, TV sets may become expensive as some components will attract 5 per cent import duty from October 1.

The government is also keen to expand the domestic production capacity for open cell panels so that imports can be curbed.

The new norms for securing debit and credit cards will be effective from October 1. Card users will now be able to register for 'opt-in' or 'opt-out' services, and spend limits for international transactions, online transactions as well as contactless card transactions.

There are changes on the cooking front too, as the FSSAI has banned blending of mustard oil with any other cooking oil from October 1.

Also, the Tax Collected at Source (TCS) regime kicks in from October 1 under which an e-commerce operator has to deduct 1 per cent tax on sale of goods and services. Accordingly, an e-commerce operator will deduct income tax at 1 per cent of the gross amount of sale of goods or services.