New Delhi, Feb. 13 -- The long-awaited bill for the new tax code was tabled in Parliament on Thursday. The bill fulfills the finance minister's commitment to provide an income tax law that is straightforward for both taxpayers and tax administrators, aiming to establish tax certainty and reduce litigation.

The bill is culmination of amendments incorporated in successive budgets since the idea of a Direct Tax Code 2010 was floated in 2009. It aims to maintain relative stability in the well understood provisions of existing income-tax law while simplifying it after a comprehensive review making it "concise, lucid, easy to read and understand".

The FAQs issued for the new bill emphasize that the international experience of countries like t...