- TAXPAYER’S CHARTER
A. Commitment to taxpayers
To provide fair, courteous, and reasonable treatment
Treat taxpayer as honest
To provide mechanism for appeal and review
To provide complete and accurate information
To provide timely decisions
To collect the correct amount of tax
To respect privacy of taxpayers
To maintain confidentiality
To hold its authorities accountable
To enable representative of choice
To provide mechanism to lodge complaint
To provide a fair & just system
To publish service standards & report periodically
To reduce cost of compliance
B. Expectation from taxpayers
To be honest
To be compliant and cooperate when you deal with the Tax Departments
To file proper & complete tax documents & effect payments by the statutory due dates
To keep proper records in accordance with the law
To inform the Tax Departments about changes in circumstances
To know your tax responsibilities & the consequences for non-compliance
- FACELESS APPEALS
A. Features
Appeals to be randomly allotted to any officer in the country
The identity of officers deciding appeal will remain unknown
No need to visit the officer/office
The appellate decision will be Team Based & reviewed
B. Exceptions: CASES RELATING TO
Serious frauds, Major Tax Evasion, Sensitive & Search matters
International tax
Black Money Act & Benami Property
- WIDENING THE TAX BASE
A. Deduction or collection of tax TDS or TCS on new transactions:
TDS on Cash withdrawal above Rs. 1 crore (in case of Non-filers limit is Rs. 20 lakh)
TCS on motor vehicle above Rs. 10 Lakh
TCS on Foreign remittance under LRS above Rs. 7.5 lakh/overseas tour packages
TDS on e-commerce suppliers & TCS on purchase of goods above Rs. 50 Lakh
B. Expansion of scope of Reporting of transactions:
Cash deposit or withdrawal of Rs. 50 lakh or more in current account
Cash Deposit of above Rs. 10 lakh or more in non- current account
Sale of foreign exchange above Rs. 10 lakhs
The reporting of transactions of mutual funds, credit card transactions, immovable property, etc. rationalized
C. Compulsory Filing of return:
Deposit above Rs.1 crore in current account or
Expenditure of above Rs. 2 lakhs on foreign travel &
Electricity consumption above Rs. 1 lakh
- PROPOSED MEASURES FOR WIDENING OF TAX BASE
A. Expansion of scope of Reporting of transactions (SFT):
Payment of educational fee or donations above Rs. 1 lakh per annum
Electricity consumption above Rs. 1 lakh per annum
Domestic business class air travel or foreign travel
Payment to hotels above Rs. 20,000
Purchase of Jewellery, white goods, painting, marble, etc. above Rs. 1 lakh
Deposit or credits in current account above Rs. 50 lakhs
Deposit or credits in non-current account above Rs. 25 lakhs
Payment of property tax above Rs. 20,000 per annum
Life Insurance premium above Rs. 50,000
Health insurance premium above Rs. 20,000
Share transactions / D-MAT accounts/Bank lockers
- Deduction/collection of tax at higher rates for non-filers of return
- Compulsory filing of return by the person having bank transactions above Rs. 30 lakhs, all professionals, businesses having turnover above Rs. 50 lakh, payment of rent above 40,000.
- DIRECT TAX REFORMS
A. Corporate Tax
Corporates to pay tax at concessional rate of 22%
Corporate tax for new manufacturing companies (Set up after Oct. 2019) reduced to 15%
No MAT applicable to such companies
B. Personal Income Tax
Individual taxpayers to pay income-tax at lower slab rates if they do not avail specified exemption & incentive
Co-operatives to pay taxes at concessional rates without claiming any specified deduction or incentive
C. Raising of monetary limit for filing of departmental appeal raised from
INR 20 Lakh to INR 50 Lakh before ITAT
INR 50 Lakh to INR 1 Crore before High Court
INR 1 Crore to INR 2 Crore before the Supreme Court
D. Faceless E-assessment Scheme
The E-assessment Scheme, 2019 eliminates
Interface between the Assessing Officer and the assessee
Optimising use of resources through functional specialisation
Introducing the team-based assessment
E. Document Identification Number {DIN)
Every communication of the department issued from 1st Oct 2019 mandatory to have computer-generated unique DIN
F. Pre-filing of Income-Tax Returns
ITR form now contains pre-filled details of certain incomes
G. Simplification of compliance norms for Start-ups
Hassle-free assessment procedure, exemptions from Angel-tax, the constitution of dedicated start-up cell
Threshold for launching prosecution increased
System of a collegium of senior officers for sanction of prosecution introduced
Norm for compounding relaxed
Author
CA Ankit Gupta