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Government of India
Ministry of Finance
Department of Revenue
Central Board of Direct Taxes
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New Delhi, 22nd March, 2023
PRESS RELEASE
Roll out of ‘AIS for Taxpayer’ Mobile App
The Income Tax Department has launched a Mobile app, namely, ‘AIS for Taxpayer’ to facilitate taxpayers to view their information as available in the Annual Information Statement (AIS) / Taxpayer Information Summary (TIS). ‘AIS for Taxpayer’ is a mobile application provided free of cost by the Income Tax Department, and is available on Google Play & App Store. The app is aimed to provide a comprehensive view of the AIS/TIS to the taxpayer which displays the information collected from various sources pertaining to the taxpayer.
Taxpayers can use the mobile app to view their information related to TDS/TCS, interest, dividends, share transactions, tax payments, Income Tax refunds, Other Information (GST Data, Foreign Remittances, etc.) as available in AIS/TIS. The taxpayer also has the option and the facility to provide feedback on the information displayed in the app.
To access this mobile app, the taxpayer needs to register on the app by providing PAN number, authenticate with the OTP sent on mobile number & e-mail registered on the e-filing portal. Subsequent to the authentication, the taxpayer can simply set a 4-digit PIN to access the mobile app.
This is another initiative of the Income Tax Department in the area of providing enhanced taxpayer services facilitating ease of compliance.
(Surabhi Ahluwalia)
Pr. Commissioner of Income Tax
(Media & Technical Policy) &
Official Spokesperson, CBDT
Ministry of Finance
72,42,156 is the highest number of ITR filing in a day on 31st July 2022
42.92% of total returns were processed within a span of 24 hours of furnishing of ITR
19 banks onboarded on online tax payment system TIN 2.0
Dated: 20 MAR 2023
The Government has taken a number of measures in recent years to maintain continuity and stability of taxation, further simplify and rationalise various provisions to reduce the compliance burden, promote the entrepreneurial spirit and provide tax relief to citizens. This was stated by the Union Minister of State for Finance Shri Pankaj Chaudhary in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.
The Minister stated that the details of the some such measures are as per ANNEXURE.
Giving out more details, the Minister stated that the maximum, minimum and average amount of income tax returns filed and processed by the Income Tax e-filing portal within a span of 24 hours for A.Y. 2022-23 is as under:
Moreover, the Minister stated, for A.Y. 2022-23, 3,02,40,121 ITRs (i.e. 42.92% of total returns) were processed within a span of 24 hours of furnishing of ITR.
Giving out more information, the Minister stated that it is a continuous and ongoing endeavour to improve the tax payer portal (e-filing portal). Some of the steps taken in this regard include roll out of online tax payment system (TIN 2.0) on which till now 19 banks have onboarded. Further this portal made available new payment modes to taxpayers for payment of taxes. This has led to faster credit of taxes paid. Further, educational videos and FAQs are continuously being uploaded on the portal to create awareness among taxpayers on relevant topics for easier tax compliance. Recently, facility for co-browsing has been enabled on the portal for providing help to the taxpayers by the helpdesk team in respect of issues related to portal.
Further, the Minister stated that the common Income Tax Return (“CTR”) has been proposed as a common return form for all persons except Trusts. The proposed Return aims to bring ease of filing returns and reduce the time for filing the ITR by individuals and non-business-type taxpayers considerably. The taxpayers will not be required to see the schedules that do not apply to them. Schedules have been designed smartly in a user-friendly manner with better arrangement, logical flow, and with increased scope of pre-filling. It will also facilitate the proper reconciliation of third-party data available with the Income-tax Department vis a vis the data to be reported in the ITR to reduce the compliance burden on the taxpayers. Draft of the CTR was uploaded in public domain inviting comments from all stakeholders.
Income Tax department has the following grievance redressal mechanisms:
The Minister further stated that strengthening the grievance redressal mechanism is an ongoing and continuous process. With enhanced monitoring and reducing the response time to the various grievances filed by taxpayer, an impetus has been given in the various grievance redressal mechanisms. The increased digitalisation of procedures under the Act has also contributed to the improvement in the disposal of taxpayer grievances, the Minister stated.
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PPG/KMN
(Release ID: 1908923)
ANNEXURE
DIRECT TAX MEASURES
I. Reduction in tax rates & Simplification of direct tax laws
Corporate Tax - It has been the stated policy of the Government to simplify the Income-tax Act, 1961 by removing exemptions and incentives while at the same time reducing the rates of taxes. Starting from the Finance Act, 2016, the corporate tax rates have been gradually reduced while phasing out the exemptions and incentives available to the corporates. In furtherance of this policy, through Taxation Laws (Amendment) Act, 2019, an option has been provided to the corporates to pay tax at concessional rate of 22% (plus applicable surcharge and cess) if they do not avail any exemption or incentive. Further, new domestic manufacturing companies (set up on or after 1st October, 2019 and starting manufacture on or before 31st March, 2024) has been provided an option for paying tax at 15% (plus applicable surcharge and cess) without claiming specified exemption and incentive. Further, such companies are not required to pay MAT as well.
Personal Income Tax- Further, in order to reform personal income tax, Finance Act, 2020 has provided an option to individual taxpayers for paying income-tax at lower slab rates if they do not avail specified exemption and incentive. The personal income tax new regime is proposed to be further liberalised by Finance Bill, 2023 by providing substantial relief to taxpayers under this regime.
II. Ease of Compliance for Taxpayers
Faceless Schemes – The procedures for assessment, appeal and levy of penalty under the Income-tax Act have been made faceless by eliminating the human interface between the Assessing Officer and the assessee, optimising use of resources through functional specialization and streamlining the procedures to enable efficient implementation.
Pre-filling of Income-tax Returns- In order to make tax compliance more convenient, pre-filled Income tax Returns (ITR) have been provided to individual taxpayers. The ITR form now contains pre-filled details of certain incomes such as salary income. The scope of information for pre-filing is being further expanded by including information such as house property income, capital gains from securities, bank interest, dividends, etc.
Taxpayers’ Charter: The Hon’ble Prime Minister has also launched a ‘Taxpayer’s Charter’. The Charter reflects certain principal commitments of the Income Tax Department towards the taxpayer. The taxpayer’s charter has been adopted by the CBDT as per the provisions of section 119A. With its adoption, India joins other major economies in the world like USA, UK, Canada and Australia which too have adopted and published Charter as a gesture of their commitment towards their taxpayers. The Charter will go a long way in strengthening the trust between the taxpayer and the tax administration. It will also help in enhancing the efficiency of the delivery system of the Income Tax Department.
Updated return - A new provision has been introduced in the Act facilitating the taxpayer to be able to update his return anytime within two years from the end of the relevant assessment year. A taxpayer can file an updated return by voluntarily admitting omissions or mistakes and paying an additional tax as applicable. A formal mechanism of first passively sharing information through Assessee Information System (AIS) and then actively sharing through e-Verification scheme has been recently enabled. Non-intrusive voluntary compliance through this two-pronged approach is devised to enable access to a taxpayer of information available with the Department and to nudge him to correct omissions/errors/oversights) by allowing updating of this return of income.
III. Reduction in Litigation
Setting up of Dispute Resolution Committee (DRC)- For reducing litigation and to give an impetus to the dispute resolution for small taxpayers, a Dispute Resolution Committee is to be constituted. A taxpayer having taxable income up to Rs. 50 lakh and disputed income up to Rs. 10 lakh shall be eligible to approach the Committee. For ensuring efficiency, transparency and accountability, the procedure of the Committee will be conducted in a faceless manner.
Vivad se Vishwas- Since a large number of disputes related to direct taxes were pending at various levels of adjudication from Commissioner (Appeals) level to Supreme Court, an urgent need was felt to provide for resolution of pending tax disputes which will not only benefit the Government by generating timely revenue but also the taxpayers as it will bring to close mounting litigation costs and efforts can be better utilized for expanding business activities. Hence, Direct Tax Vivad se Vishwas Act, 2020 was enacted on 17th March, 2020 under which the declaration for settling disputes have been filed. The scheme has been very successful.
Repetitive appeals: Taking forward the policy of litigation management, a new section 158AB is inserted into the Income-tax Act. If a question of law in the case of an assessee is identical to a question of law pending in appeal before the jurisdictional High Court or the Supreme Court in any case, the filing of further appeal to the Appellate Tribunal or the jurisdictional High Court in the case of the assessee shall be deferred till such question of law is decided by the relevant Court subject to certain conditions.
IV. Benefits to senior citizen taxpayers
In order to ease compliance burden on senior citizen pensioners who are of 75 years of age or above having pension and interest income have been exempted from the requirement of filing of income tax if the full amount of tax payable has been deducted by the paying bank.
INDIRECT TAXES
In this regards steps taken in relation to import duty are listed as follows –
A simplified tax structure with fewer tax rates helps in reducing compliance burden, improving tax administration and a step forward in achieving our objective of ‘Make in India’ and ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’.
Ministry of Labour & Employment
EPFO extends date for applications regarding pension on Higher wages
Dated: 13 MAR 2023
Supreme Court had held that the employees who have retired before 1st September 2014 and had exercised option under paragraph 11(3) prior to their retirement shall be eligible for pension on higher wages. Instructions in this regard had been issued to field offices vide circular dated 29.12.2022 and 05.01.2023. Online facility for submitting applications for validation of joint options to the employees who retired before 01.09.2014 and had exercised joint options before their retirement had been provided on the EPFO Website till 03.03.2023.
Now, on demand of the employees’ / employers’ associations the Chairman, Central Board of Trustees has extended the time for submitting applications for validation of joint options from such employees till 3 May 2023.
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MJPS
(Release ID: 1906600)
Ministry of Finance
CBDT’s e-Verification Scheme harnesses information technology to facilitate voluntary compliance
On a pilot basis information of financial transactions pertaining to 68,000 cases from FY 2019-20 taken up for e-Verification
e-Verification completed in approximately 35,000 cases out of 68,000 cases in the above pilot study
Dated: 13 MAR 2023
The Income Tax Department has taken several progressive steps to encourage voluntary tax compliance and facilitate a transparent and non-intrusive tax administration. One such major initiative is the e-Verification Scheme, 2021 (the “Scheme”) which was notified on 13th December, 2021.
Using information technology effectively, the Scheme aims to share and verify such financial transaction information with the taxpayer which appears to be either unreported or under-reported in the Income Tax Return (ITR) filed by the taxpayer.
The Department has been collecting information of financial transactions from multiple sources. Earlier, a part of it was shared with the taxpayer in the 26AS Statement. However, with a view to effectively utilize the data collected from various sources, the entire information is now displayed to the taxpayer through the Annual Information Statement (AIS). The AIS provides a facility to the taxpayer to object to any information if the Source has misreported any such information. The Department confirms the said information with the Source and if the Source states that there is no error, the said information is subjected to risk assessment for e-Verification.
The entire process of e-Verification is digital, with notices issued electronically and responses by the taxpayers also submitted electronically. On completion of the enquiry, a verification report is prepared electronically without any physical interface with the taxpayer.
The Scheme is extremely beneficial to taxpayers as it enables the taxpayer to explain the financial transaction with evidence. It also helps in data correction/cleaning and thereby prevents initiation of proceedings on misreported information. Further, since the information pertaining to the financial transactions is shared with the taxpayer, it provides an opportunity to correct /update income that may not have been appropriately reported in the ITR filed by the taxpayer. In other words, as the e-Verification Scheme makes the taxpayer aware of the risks, it nudges him/her towards voluntary compliance by providing an opportunity to the taxpayer to Update the return of income under section 139(8A) of the Income-tax Act,1961.
On a pilot basis, in about 68,000 cases, information of financial transactions pertaining to FY 2019-20 has been taken up for e-Verification. Details of the transactions have been initially shared with the individual taxpayer through e-campaign. So far, e-Verification has been completed by the designated Directorate in approximately 35,000 cases and remaining are under verification.
As the Scheme has provided an opportunity to the taxpayers to accept the mismatch of information vis-à-vis the original ITR filed, it is found that many taxpayers have filed Updated ITRs.
To facilitate a better understanding of the Scheme and the various processes involved therein, the FAQs on e-Verification Scheme, 2021 are available on www. incometaxindia.gov.
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PPG/KMN
(Release ID: 1906498)
Government of India
Ministry of Finance
Department of Revenue
Central Board of Direct Taxes
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New Delhi, 11 th March, 2023
PRESS RELEASE
Direct Tax Collections for F.Y. 2022-23 up to 10.03.2023
The provisional figures of Direct Tax collections up to 10 th March, 2023 continue to register steady growth. Direct Tax collections up to 10 th March, 2023 show that gross collections are at Rs. 16.68 lakh crore which is 22.58% higher than the gross collections for the corresponding period of last year. Direct Tax collection, net of refunds, stands at Rs. 13.73 lakh crore which is 16.78% higher than the net collections for the corresponding period of last year. This collection is 96.67% of the total Budget Estimates and 83.19% of the Total Revised Estimates of Direct Taxes for F.Y. 2022-23.
So far as the growth rate for Corporate Income Tax (CIT) and Personal Income Tax (PIT) in terms of gross revenue collections is concerned, the growth rate for CIT is 18.08% while that for PIT (including STT) is 27.57%. After adjustment of refunds, the net growth in CIT collections is 13.62% and that in PIT collections is 20.73% (PIT only)/ 20.06% (PIT including STT).
Refunds amounting to Rs.2.95 lakh crore have been issued during 1 st April, 2022 to 10 th March 2023, which are 59.44% higher than refunds issued during the same period in the preceding year.
(Surabhi Ahluwalia)
Pr. Commissioner of Income Tax
(Media & Technical Policy)
Official Spokesperson, CBDT.