Direct Tax Review: CBDT Expedites Review, Asks To Station 28 Officers For A Month In Delhi
In a recent communique, CBDT called for a “focused approach” by officials, ahead of the review deadline.
To speed up the comprehensive review of the decades-old Income-tax Act, the Central Board of Direct Taxes has instructed officers to physically station themselves in Delhi for around one month, in order to complete the review within the stipulated time period.
In a recent communique, the apex body called for a “focused approach” by officials, ahead of the review deadline. The government has set six-months’ time for comprehensive review of direct tax, which is coming to end in January.
Ahead of the deadline, it has listed 28 officers, who are currently part of the review committee to complete the task between Dec. 2 and Dec. 27. NDTV Profit has reviewed the CBDT letter.
The review report is expected to be submitted to the government by December-end for further consultation.
Notably, the government has formed an internal panel with 22 sub-committees to review Direct Tax. These committees have actively engaged in numerous meetings both in person and via VC, with domain experts to collaboratively explore and recommend improvements to the Act.
The panel is of view that most tax provisions applicable before assessment year 2012-13 may be declared redundant.
The review is being conducted in a way to eliminate all redundant sections, but with three broad exceptions, of which the first is related to income in the current or subsequent years arising from past investments. The other two pertain to litigation, notices, and search.
According to officials in the know, any provision that may have an impact on the determination of total income in pending assessment proceedings will not be done away with. It will be assumed that proceedings related to assessment year 2012-13 onwards may still be pending in regular course.
The other provisions that will be spared from the review will be those with impact on initiation of proceedings in current year, related to assessment year 2014-15 or later.
In October, the CBDT's internal committee invited public inputs for review of the six-decade-old I-T Act, with regard to simplification of language, litigation reduction, compliance reduction, and obsolete provisions.
The income tax department has received 6,500 suggestions from stakeholders over the past month.
In line with the Budget announcement by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for a comprehensive review of the direct taxes, the CBDT had set up an internal committee to oversee the review and make the Act concise, clear, and easy to understand, which will reduce disputes, litigation, and provide greater tax certainty to taxpayers.
