Faceless Assessment: I-T Dept Hopes to Dispose of over 49,000 Remaining cases by Mid-Sept
The Income Tax Department has set a deadline of
mid-September to complete faceless assessment of all 58,000 plus cases. Of
this, as on date, over 8,700 cases have been disposed.
“The work has picked up since July, after having
addressed all the issues related to infrastructure, manpower, hardware and
software. Our target is to finish all the cases by mid-September,” a statement
quoting Member, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) SK Gupta issued on Tuesday,
4 August, 2020 said.
The statement also said, 3,130 tax personnel, including
600 IT officers, are involved in implementing the faceless e-assessment scheme.
In October last year, the Income Tax Department rolled out
the faceless e-assessment scheme that eliminates physical interface between an
assessing officer and an assessee. Eight cities —
Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Pune are
covered under the scheme.
The National e-Assessment Centre in Delhi is the single
point of contact for the taxpayer as well as for all units conducting
assessment. It is the NEC which issues notices under Section 143(2) to the
assesse for which the assessee is required to respond
within 15 days of receipt of notice. Upon the issue of a notice, NEC allocates
the case to any assessment unit through an automated allocation system,
ensuring anonymity.
The conventional system of scrutiny involved a high level
of personal interaction between the tax payer and the Income Tax Department
officials. Under the faceless e-assessment system, the tax payer would not know
by whom his /her return is being assessed or in which city. “The anonymity and
the absence of human interface will go a long way in addressing the issue of
harassment as well as curb instances of corruption” he said while adding under
the new system, territorial jurisdiction has been replaced with dynamic
jurisdiction.