In a significant decision, the Income Tax department has launched faceless income tax appeals system for taxpayers, the Finance Ministry said today. The faceless appeals system was on the cards of the Finance Ministry to streamline the income tax collection process and check corruption and unfair practices during the resolution of the appeals of the taxpayers.
The Ministry while announcing the decision said that all Income tax appeals will be finalised and resolved in a faceless manner barring few exceptions. The Ministry added that only those cases involving serious fraud, major tax evasion, sensitive and search matters and international tax and Black Money act will require the physical presence of the taxpayer before tax officials.
The decision to introduce the faceless income tax appeals system was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 13. Under the new system, the taxpayers will not only be immune to the alleged corrupt practices at the hand of the tax officials but also be saving their time as they would need to file their replies and clarifications online.
Apart from checking the corrupt practices, and aiding tax filing process the move is also expected to bring an increase to the tax base of the government. The move to switch to online faceless appeal resolution is also expected to fasten the clearing process of lakhs of appeals of taxpayers which are presently stuck at different stages of resolution.
In addition to the announcement of Income Tax faceless appeals system, PM Modi had also launched the faceless assessment system and tax charter on the occasion on August 13. The faceless assessment system was also launched to remove the need of the physical presence of the taxpayers in front of the tax officials. The tax charter elaborated on the rights and responsibilities of the tax payers to help them familiarise with the whole process of Income Tax collection.
