Press Information Bureau

Government of India

Ministry Of Law

Dated: 17 SEP 2020

Tax tribunal makes innovative and aggressive use of IT techniques to dispense faster justice in the field of Direct Taxes despite corona.

The Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, a statutory quasi-judicial institution created under the Income Tax Act, 1961 and the second appellate authority dealing with disputes in the field of Direct Taxes and widely acclaimed as the ‘Mother Tribunal’, has been modelling itself on its motto of ‘Nishpaksh Sulabh Satvar Nyay’, meaning Impartial, Easy and Speedy Justice, by maintaining good disposal even during the COVID-19 Pandemic period.  The innovative and aggressive use of techniques of Information Technology to dispense justice in the field of Direct Taxes in such times when physical hearing of cases was not found feasible on concerns of safety, etc. has been seamlessly adopted by the ITAT.

            Justice P.P. Bhatt, President of ITAT directed the start of judicial proceedings immediately upon lifting of lockdown, albeit through the mode of Video Conferencing instead of physical hearings.  This has yielded good dividends inasmuch it has enabled the Benches to function, whereby cases have been heard and disposed of by hearing both parties from remote locations.  During the period starting from partial lifting of lockdown in April, 2020 and up to 31st August, 2020, as many as 5,392 cases were disposed of as against filing of 3,078 cases during such period.

            The 63 Benches of the ITAT are spread over 28 regular stations and 2 Circuit Benches at Varanasi and Dehradun.  Administratively, the Benches are divided in 10 Zones, each headed by a Vice President.  All the Zones functioned during this period strictly in compliance with the guidelines and instructions issued by the Central and/or State Governments.

            ITAT wishes to thank its stakeholders, viz., taxpayers, lawyers, Chartered Accountants and the Offices of the Income Tax Department in cooperating with the Benches and providing useful assistance in the administration of justice in the field of Direct Taxes during the current period of COVID-19 Pandemic.

 

Government of India

Department of Revenue

Ministry of Finance

Central Board of Direct Taxes

New Delhi, 2nd September, 2020

PRESS RELEASE

Income Tax Department carries out searches in Srinagar and Kupwara

The Income Tax Department has carried out simultaneous search and seizure operations on 2nd September, 2020 in the case of three prominent businessmen in Srinagar and Kupwara. These operations have, prima facie, led to the detection of huge amount of undisclosed income, seizure of unaccounted assets and incriminating evidence and involvement in benami transactions by these three groups. 

The search action revealed that the key person of one of the groups, although engaged in Cross-LOC trade until the suspension of trade by the Government in April 2019, has not filed his Income Tax Returns. He was also found to be having two active PANs. His proprietory concern has made exports of over Rs. 25 crore in the last few years. However, no income tax has been paid at all. Incriminating documents related to the LoC trade have been seized from the Custodian of cross-LOC trade, indicating large-scale tax evasion. There are also evidences of unexplained expenditure on the education of his daughter in Pakistan.

In another case, the key person and his brother were engaged in Cross-LOC trade until the suspension of trade by the Government. He had made total exports of  Rs 3 crore in the last two years, while he had filed his Income Tax Return for only one year and that too, showing meager receipts. The Income Tax Return filed also does not match with the credits in multiple bank accounts which run into crores of rupees. Further, evidences showing illegal trade in violation of suspension of cross LoC trade have been seized. The passport of the assessee reveals that he had travelled to Pakistan for 20-25 days every calendar year since 2017 and the source of expenditure on this account is prima-facie unexplained.

In yet another case, it was seen that the group was engaged in Cross- LOC trade of vegetables and fruits. In this case, unaccounted cash of Rs. 15 lakh has been seized. The group is having multiple concerns. However, transactions of these concerns have not been reflected in their Income Tax Returns. In the case of a person of this group, who is a non-filer, documents pertaining to the unaccounted business transactions of about Rs.10 crore have been seized. In another case of a firm, one of the partners in the firm has admitted that his name was only being used, though he was not involved in any activity of the firm. The matter is being examined from the angle of Benami transactions. A locker has also been found which is yet to be searched and has been placed under restraint.

Further investigations are going on.

(Surabhi Ahluwalia)

Commissioner of Income Tax

(Media & Technical Policy)

Official Spokesperson, CBDT

 

Government of India

Department of Revenue

Ministry of Finance

Central Board of Direct Taxes

New Delhi, 2nd September, 2020

PRESS RELEASE

CBDT provides ITR Filing Compliance Check Functionality for Scheduled Commercial Banks

Central Board of Direct Taxes in exercise of powers conferred under section 138(1)(a) of Income Tax Act, 1961, has issued Order inF.No. 225/136/2020/ITA.II dated 31.08.2020, for furnishing information about IT Return Filing Status to Scheduled Commercial Banks, notified vide notification No. 71/2020 dated 31.08.2020 under sub-clause (ii) of clause (a) of sub-section (1) of section 138 of the Act.

The data on cash withdrawal indicated that huge amount of cash is being withdrawn by the persons who have never filed income-tax returns. To ensure filing of return by these persons and to keep track on cash withdrawals by the non-filers, and to curb black money, the Finance Act, 2020 w.e.f. 1st July, 2020 further amended Income-tax Act, 1961 to lower the threshold of cash withdrawal to Rs. 20 lakh for the applicability of TDS for the non-filers and also mandated TDS at the higher rate of 5% on cash withdrawal exceeding Rs. 1 crore by the non-filers.

Income Tax Department has already provided a functionality “Verification of applicability u/s 194N” on www.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in for Banks and Post offices since 1st July, 2020.  Through this functionality, Bank/Post Office can get the applicable rate of TDS under section 194N of the Income-tax Act, 1961 by entering the PAN of the person who is withdrawing cash.

The Department has now released a new functionality “ITR Filing Compliance Check” which will be available to Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs) to check the IT Return filing status of PANs in bulk mode. The Principal Director General of Income-tax (Systems) has notified the procedure and format for providing notified information to the Scheduled Commercial Banks. The salient features of the using functionality are as under:

a) Accessing “ITR Filing Compliance Check”:The Principal Officer & Designated Director of SCBs, which are registered with the Reporting Portal  of Income-tax Department (https://report.insight.gov.in) shall be able to use the functionality after logging into the Reporting Portal using their credentials. After successfully logging in, link to the functionality “ITR Filing Compliance Check” will appear on the home page of the Reporting Portal.

b) Preparing request (input) file containing PANs: The CSV Template to enter PAN details can be downloaded by clicking on “Download CSV template” button on the “ITR Filing Compliance Check” page. PANs, for which IT Return filing status is required, are required to be entered in the downloaded CSV template. The current limit of PANs in one file is 10,000.

c) Uploading the input CSV file: Input CSV file may be uploaded by clicking on Upload CSV button. While uploading, “Reference Financial Year” is required to be selected. Reference Financial Year is the year for which results are required. If selected Reference Financial Year is 2020-21 then results will be available for Assessment years 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20. Uploaded file will start reflecting with Uploaded status.

d) Downloading the output CSV file: After processing, CSV file containing IT Return Filing Status of the entered PANs will be available for download and “Status” will change to Available.  Output CSV file will have PAN, Name of the PAN holder (masked), IT Return Filing Status for last three Assessment Years.

After downloading of the file, the status will change to Downloaded and after 24 hours of availability of the file, download link will expire and status will change to Expired.

Scheduled Commercial Banks can also use API based exchange to automate and integrate the process with the Bank’s core banking solution. Scheduled Commercial Banks are required to document and implement appropriate information security policies and procedures with clearly defined roles and responsibilities to ensure security of information.

(Surabhi Ahluwalia)

Commissioner of Income Tax

(Media & Technical Policy)

Official Spokesperson, CBDT

 

Ministry of Finance

Providing Ease of Tax Compliance and Opportunity to taxpayers before finalizing of Assessment Order are the core features of Faceless Assessment Scheme, a right step towards Minimum Government, Maximum Governance: Principal Chief Commissioner – Income Tax, Mumbai

Dated: 27 AUG 2020

Faceless E-Assessment scheme is a right step towards Minimum Government, Maximum Governance and the foundation stone for a transparent tax system. This is how Principal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax in Mumbai, Shri Patanjali Jha summarizes the new platform of Income Tax Department. He added that providing Ease of Tax Compliance and Opportunity to taxpayers before finalizing of Assessment Order are the core features of this scheme, while speaking at a webinar on 'Faceless Assessment, Appeals & Taxpayer's Charter' jointly organized by the IMC Chamber of Commerce & Industry and Bombay Chamber of Commerce & Industry today.

Making a comparison between the faceless assessment system and the current system it replaces, the Principal Chief Commissioner explained how the new system is one designed for the 21st century. "There is no discretion in selection of assessment cases, while earlier, case selection used to happen manually. In place of single territorial jurisdiction, we now have automated random allocation of cases. While notices used to be issued both manually and on the system, issue of notices will now be done through a central mechanism (by NeAC) in electronic mode. There will be no physical meeting with any officer, no officer will call you to office and no more waiting outside office", explained Shri Jha. He also noted, wide discretion and subjective assessment are being replaced by team-based assessment and a system wherein draft order is issued in one city, review is done in another city and finalization is done in yet another city, said the Principal Chief Commissioner. This apart, the scheme gives opportunity to taxpayers, in case of any order prejudicial before finalizing the Assessment order.

The Principal Chief Commissioner urged all taxpayers to visit the e-filing portal to understand how easy it is to use the platform from where all issues with the Department can be resolved easily. "On our part we expect you to understand and try to adapt; We will also provide suitable infrastructure facilities and ensure tax compliance is easy for tax payers", stated Shri Jha

A National e-Assessment Centre (NeAC) and a network of Regional e-Assessment Centres will be set up to implement the Faceless Assessment Scheme of the Income Tax Department, launched nation-wide by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on 13th August, 2020. The regional assessment network would comprise assessment units, verification units, technical units and review units. The system allows for dynamic jurisdiction, team-based working, and functional specialization and does away with human interface altogether.

The Chief Commissioner of Income-Tax (ReAC) Mumbai, Smt. Lekha Kumar and Principal Commissioner of Income-Tax, Mumbai, Shri. Kaushal Shrivastava also addressed the participants and responded to their queries.

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DL/SC/PK

(Release ID: 1649006)

 

Ministry of Finance

A National e-Assessment Centre will be set up to implement Faceless Assessment: Principal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, Mumbai

“Faceless Assessment is a Tax Assessment System designed for the 21st century”

Dated: 26 AUG 2020

A National e-Assessment Centre (NeAC) and a network of Regional e-Assessment Centres will be set up to implement the Faceless Assessment Scheme of the Income Tax Department, launched nation-wide by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on 13th August, 2020. The regional assessment network would comprise assessment units, verification units, technical units and review units. The system allows for dynamic jurisdiction, team-based working, and functional specialization and does away with human interface altogether. This was informed by the Principal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, Mumbai, Shri Patanjali Jha, during a webinar on “Faceless Assessment Scheme and Virtual Court Hearings”, conducted by KPMG India.

Making a comparison between the faceless assessment system and the current system it replaces, the Principal Chief Commissioner explained how the new system is one designed for the 21st century. There is no discretion in selection of assessment cases, while earlier, case selection used to happen manually. In place of single territorial jurisdiction, we now have automated random allocation of cases. While notices used to be issued both manually and on the system, issue of notices will now be done through a central mechanism (by NeAC) in electronic mode. There shall be no physical meetings between taxpayers and officers. Wide discretion and subjective assessment are being replaced by team-based assessment and a system wherein draft order is issued in one city, review is done in another city and finalization is done in yet another city. This thereby leads to an objective, fair and just assessment order, said the Principal Chief Commissioner.

Along with Pr. CCIT, Mumbai, Chief Commissioner of Income-Tax (ReAC) Mumbai, Smt. Lekha Kumar and Principal Commissioner of Income-Tax (ReAC), Mumbai, Smt. Ratna Dasgupta also addressed the participants and responded to their queries.

The Webinar was organized to promote the awareness amongst the stakeholders about the new faceless assessment scheme and had an overwhelming participation of more than 1,000 participants. The department intends to hold more such outreach programmes in coming days to educate the tax payers about the new faceless assessment scheme.

Faceless Assessment Scheme was rolled out in the Income Tax Department as a pilot project in September, 2019. Initially, a limited number of cases were picked up for faceless assessment which was being done at eight centres in the country. The Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi announced the extension of the scheme to the entire department on 13th August 2020. The scheme is also being extended to the first appellate authority i.e. Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) from 25th September, 2020.

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DJM /DR

(Release ID: 1648814)