Modernisation & Tax Payer Services
Taxation
in India has existed since ancient times.
Taxation was considered as a sacred duty in Vedic times. It finds its
references in many ancient books.
Kautilya’s ‘Arthashstra’ deals
with taxation in an elaborate and planned manner suggesting ways to guide a
king in running the state in an efficient and fruitful manner. According to
him, treasury is the root of administration(‘kosh moolo dandah’).
Travelling
through medieval era the taxation in India was practised in different ways till
it was introduced by Sir James Wilson on July
24, 1860 as a tax selectively
imposed on the rich, royalty and Britishers. Since then there have been a number reforms to
realise the crucial role of Income Tax Department not only to finance the
government but also to establish social welfare schemes. As a result taxation
in India has now acquired a modern look.
Following
are the recent initiatives for modernisation and taxpayer services:-
Website
The
website of the Department www.incometaxindia.gov.in was launched in the year
2003 to provide a host of informational, interactive and transactional services
to the Taxpayers.
TIN
Tax
Information Network (TIN) was established to integrate primary information of
tax collection, tax deduction and third party information. The system allows
the Department to create separate account for each PAN holder.
TAXNET
An All
India Tax Network (TAXNET) was setup in 2007 by consolidating 36 independent
regional databases into a single centralized database (PDC or Primary Data
Centre) at Delhi with
a Business Continuity site at Mumbai & limited Disaster Recovery site at
Chennai. It created 2.5 TB consolidated database which was one of the largest
databases of Government of India. 718 Income Tax offices in 520 cities are part
of this network.
E-Payment
Taxpayers
have the facility to pay their taxes online, through ATMs, Debit Cards or
Cheques at agency bank branches across the country.
E-Filing
In
2006-07 the high impact and high visibility project for electronic filing
(e-filing) of Income Tax Returns was launched. Returns could be filed online
using digital signature, without digital signature, or through e-Return
intermediaries. In the first year 3.63 Lakh taxpayers
used this facility. The number has now grown to 92 Lakhs in the year 2010-11.
TRPS
Tax
Return Preparer Scheme was launched in 2006 to assist individual and HUF
taxpayers to file their Return of Income. The Department trained nearly 4700
unemployed or under employed graduates at 100 centersacross the country to enable them to prepare Returns
of taxpayers at marginal cost. The scheme used Online Learning Management
System for distance learning for the first time.
Income Tax Ombudsman
In
2006, the institution of Income Tax Ombudsman was set up in 12 cities
throughout the country to look into tax related grievances of the common
public.
Refund Banker
The
Refund Banker Scheme was launched in January 2007
in Delhi and Patna charges. Data of Refunds determined by
the Assessing Officer gets transferred to the Refund Banker (State Bank of India ) which issues refund through
Electronic Clearing System (ECS) in cases where MICR code is available or
through Cheque, if MICR is not available. The scheme has now been extended to
the whole country.
Sevottam
Sevottam Scheme
was launched in the year 2007 to standardize service delivery to the taxpayers.
The Department identified the services delivered to different taxpayer segments
and promised definite time lines for delivery of these services. The first citizen
friendly single window Aayakar Seva Kendra
(ASK) to rollout these services was setup at Pune. Today 15 ASK centres are functional in the country.
ITDMS
Integrated
Taxpayer Data Management System (ITDMS) for drawing of 360° taxpayer profile
was launched in 2007. The system creates 360° profile by using huge volume of
data available from internal and external databases and builds individual
profiles, family relationships etc. by using sophisticated data
mining tools and search engine. ITDMS has provided an exceptionally potent tool
to the investigation wing for non-intrusive investigation.
CFL
Cyber
Forensic Labs were setup in 2008 to identify relevant digital data during
search and survey operations, recover hidden or password protected or deleted
data and store retrieved data in a manner so that it could be used as evidence
in judicial proceedings.
CPC
Centralized
Processing Centre was setup in Bengaluru in
2009 for bulk processing of e-filed and paper returns. The Centre operates
without any interface with taxpayers in a jurisdiction – free manner. The
Centre processed 86.9 lakh returns
in 2010-11. To replace the 50 years old Income-tax Act, 1961, simplified ‘The
Direct Taxes Code Bill, 2010’ was introduced in the Parliament in
2010.
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