NEW DELHI: The Income Tax (I-T) department, which has started faceless e-assessment in October 2019, had completed the assessment of 100 cases so far and has sent notices to 48,000 cases.
The faceless e-assessment facility was launched to remove face-to-face scrutiny by the I-T department. It was initiated to speed up the process of assessment, improve transparency and reduce cases of harassment by tax officials.
Initially, 58,322 cases were selected for the faceless assessment. According to CBDT chairman PC Mody, so far only 100 cases were assessed and notices were sent to 48,000 people. Action against 10,000 cases is still pending.
In a post-Budget interaction with industries, the CBDT chairman said taxpayers’ charter announced in the Budget will have statutory status and it will be notified soon and once operationalised, India will be only the ‘third or fourth’ country to have such a tax administration.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her Budget speech said direct tax body CBDT will adopt a taxpayer charter that will ensure trust between a taxpayer and administration and reduce harassment.
Defending the new tax structure that provides taxpayers an option of lower I-T rate by giving up certain exemption and deductions, he said the intention behind this was to make tax system simple.
“Time has come for a re-look and revisit the entire system, and I think young people and those who are not used to deductions and exemptions will find it attractive to go for a lower rate,” Mody said.