Government
of India
Ministry of Finance
Department of Revenue
Central Board of Direct Taxes
Ministry of Finance
Department of Revenue
Central Board of Direct Taxes
PRESS
RELEASE
New
Delhi, 31st December, 2015
Subject:
Streamlining scrutiny assessment proceedings and facilitating electronic
communication – regarding
The
Income Tax Department is committed to providing fair and transparent tax
administration and continuously improve taxpayer services.
Taking
another step in this direction, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has issued instructions to the assessing officers to be specific in
enquires made in the case of tax payers whose returns are under scrutiny.
The directions are comprehensive and cover cases selected through Computer
Aided Scrutiny Selection (CASS) for limited scrutiny for verification of
information contained in Annual Information Return (AIR)/ Form no 26AS or
received through Central Information Branch, or complete scrutiny. The
assessing officers have been advised to inform the assessee forthwith of the
reasons for limited scrutiny, confine enquiries on the specific points for
which the case has been selected and conclude the proceedings expeditiously in
a limited number of hearings. Cases selected for limited scrutiny can be
converted to complete scrutiny only with the approval of the Principal
Commissioner of Income Tax/ Commissioner of Income tax if the potential income
escaping assessment exceeds a certain monetary limit. In all cases the initial notice will be accompanied with a specific
questionnaire. Any addition to income or disallowance of deductions
will be made only after following due process of natural justice.
The
Department has also initiated a pilot project for carrying out an e-mail based scrutiny assessment in select cases
of non-corporate charges at Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad and Chennai.
Through this pilot, the Department endeavours to completely remove the need for
the taxpayer to visit the offices of the Department while moving towards
paperless scrutiny assessment proceedings.
Separately,
the CBDT has directed all its officers to mention
e-mail address and phone numbers in all communications to facilitate
electronic interface of the taxpayer with the Department.
These
recent measures are steps towards obviating the need for avoidable personal
interface with the Department and ushering in a non-adversarial tax regime.
The
communications issued by CBDT are available on the website of the Department at
www.incometax.gov.in .
(Shefali Shah)
Pr. Commissioner of Income Tax (OSD)
Official Spokesperson, CBDT
Pr. Commissioner of Income Tax (OSD)
Official Spokesperson, CBDT