New Delhi: Income tax assessments will be ‘completely faceless’ without the taxpayer having to face the taxman, in about two years and assessees will be provided pre-filled return forms as part of the government’s initiative to simplify procedures, Central Board of Direct Taxes Chairman Sushil Chandra said Sunday.
In an interaction with this agency Chandra said that about 2.06 lakh income tax assessment cases were handled online by the department last year, as part of the ‘nameless and faceless’ delivery of service to taxpayers. He added that the recent government sanction to create the advanced Centralised Processing Centre (CPC) 2.0 in the I-T Department is a precursor to these futuristic proposals.
“CPC 2.0 has got a lot of new advantages. A pre-filled return form will be given to the taxpayer on the basis of information we get about them from the tax deducted at source (TDS) procedure,” said Chandra.
“That will also facilitate processing of returns in 24 hours and we have got an agreement (with the technology vendor operating the CPC 2.0) that if it (I-T return) is processed in one day, more amount will be given. We expect this system to be rolled out in two years. Faster processing of returns will increase better tax compliance,” Chandra added.
The existing CPC in Bangalore is the nodal wing of the tax department to handle I-T returns filed by taxpayers of all categories and subsequent issuance of processing certificate and refunds to a tax filer.
Asked about the acting Finance Minister’s declaration in the Interim Budget speech that the I-T Department will move towards faceless assessment and verification of returns, the CBDT chief said the department is already working on the initiative. Even now, very few I-T return cases, only about 0.46 per cent of the total, are brought under scrutiny and 99.54 per cent ITRs are accepted as they are,” informed Chandra
“Over the last year, about 2.06 lakh assessments were completed in a faceless manner. This will be further enhanced. We are largely faceless now when it comes to dealing with taxpayers regarding their assessments and scrutiny but we are working to become completely faceless over the next few years,” asserted Chandra.
Chandra also said the taxman, in coming days, will undertake a two-part approach when dealing with an average taxpayer’s ITR. At first, the department will conduct only verification and the assessing officer will not go for assessment as a whole.
“If we have got information about any particular taxpayer, we will pass it on to them over the email and the back office will examine the issue and close the matter if the issue does not require further enquiry,” Chandra informed.
PTI