Even though the Income Tax Act is well settled now and incorporates most of the international best practices such as GAAR, transfer pricing, BEPS, etc, the Finance Ministry announced on November 22 the setting up of a task force to draft a new direct tax legislation in consonance with the economic needs of the country. Will the new legislation meet the infamous fate of the infamous Direct Tax Code drafted by infamous UPA Finance Minister P Chidambaram who among, other things, wanted to tax even the provident fund savings of the salaried class? While Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has claimed that the idea was mooted by the PM, a finance ministry statement claimed that the new legislation would be drafted keeping in mind the direct tax system in other countries, international best practices and the economic needs of the country. It is silent on scandalous tax administration that only spawns litigations and helps fill the coffers of lawyers and chartered accountants. However, the appointment of professionals on the committee may indicate that the new tax code may turn out to be not as bad as Chidambaram's DTC. Arbind Modi, Member, Central Board of Direct Taxes, has been appointed the convenor of the eight-member committee. Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian will be a Permanent Special Invitee. Other members of the new task force include Girish Ahuja, a non-official director of the State Bank of India and a chartered accountant; Rajiv Memani, Chairman and Regional Managing Partner, EY; Mukesh Patel, tax advocate, Ahmedabad; Mansi Kedia, Consultant, ICRIER; and GC Srivastava, retired IRS Officer. The task force shall set its own procedures for regulating its work and shall submit its report to the government within six months. Then, it will be processed at the political level.