The Income Tax Department has formed “high-pitched” committees where taxpayers can file appeals if they receive high tax demands during assessment, said Sushil Chandra, chairman of Central Board of Direct Taxes.
The move is to protect the rights of taxpayers and ensure they don't pay high taxes that they're not liable for, Chandra said at a conference organised by PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Delhi today.
“The moment an application is received, and the committee decides the assessment is high-pitched, then the demand will be stayed and your appeal will be decided under priority,” he said, adding “Administrative action will be taken against the assessing officer.”
Chandra said that last year over 12 assessing officers who were found indulging in high-pitched assessments were transferred. Each committee comprises three principal commissioners of Income Tax Department.
He said the department has developed various channels to get information of taxpayers, which is being matched with the taxman's database. “There's now automatic exchange of information of taxpayers' bank accounts from 72 countries.”
The tax department had sent about 1.8 crore text messages to potential taxpayers last year, leading to filing of 6.87 crore returns, he said. “These returns included 1.06 crore returns.”
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