CBDT to review new taxpayer centric measures, tax collection

The CBDT will hold a high-level meeting with top Income Tax department officials this week to review the on-ground implementation of some of the recent initiatives announced by the government for a taxpayer-friendly regime and to widen the base of taxpayingg people.

The meeting, scheduled for January 13, will be chaired by Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) Chairman A K Jain and will be attended by other members of the board who will interact with all the regional IT department heads via video conferencing.

According to the agenda proposed for the meeting accessed by PTI, the top policy-making body of the Income Tax department will review the current status of revenue collection under the direct taxes category, prompt issuance of refunds upto Rs 50,000 in non-scrutiny cases and progress on the new project of holding scrutiny of cases through email and internet-based communication.

The meeting will also assess the progress made by IT department in adding new assesses under the initiative to add one crore new taxpayers this fiscal.

The inputs received by the CBDT after the meeting, officials said, will be used in preparation of the Union Budget.

The other subjects for review include the monitoring of pending legal cases and their effective disposal, implementation of recent orders for hike in monetary limits for appeal in the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) and High Courts, quick disposal of taxpayer grievances and status of scrutiny cases being worked out in the department.

In the last few months, the CBDT and the Finance Ministry have introduced a number of projects to bring about a system of non-adversarial tax regime and improve ease of doing business in the country.

Officials said the CBDT brass, during the meeting, is expected to direct the field offices of the department to speed up the pace of these initiatives while leaving no stone unturned to enhance overall revenue collections.