NEW DELHI: The government is working on a policy proposal to “facilitate” honest and consistent taxpayers in availing a variety of public services and tax-related works on priority, officials said on Sunday. Once vetted by the Finance Ministry, the proposal will be sent for final approval to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) before it is cleared by the Union Cabinet.
According to the officials, a committee under the Central Board of Direct Taxes, the policy-making body for the Income Tax Department (ITD), is working to chalk out the broad parameters.
A Cabinet note to enhance the output of the Central Processing Centre (CPC) of the department in Bengaluru has already been prepared and sent. The capacity and automation of the CPC, the repository of tax payers’ data and their Income Tax Returns (ITRs), is proposed to be enhanced so that refunds can be issued in real-time and ITRs of small taxpayers (with single source of income) can be processed within hours and not days, as prevalent at present, they said.
The honest taxpayers are empowered to get “priority service” while using public services at airports, railways stations and at tolls on highways, they added.
In a Press conference with senior tax officers held last year, the Prime Minister had urged the department to enhance taxpayer services and ensure that honest taxpayer are given due importance.
A unique identity number could be given to such taxpayers or their Permanent Account Number (PAN) could be flagged as special as part of this maiden taxpayer facilitation proposal, the officials said.
The launch of a fully hassle-free electronic assessment of diligent taxpayers is also a part of the new proposal.
There are about 8 crore income taxpayers in the country at present and the CBDT has instructed the taxman to add 1.25 crore to this tally by the end of the current financial year in March next year. All these proposals are likely to be launched by the end of this year.