Government sets target to add one crore more Income Tax payers this year

Government sets target to add one crore more Income Tax payers this year

New Delhi: Government targets adding one crore new income tax payers in the current financial year, Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha said today.

“The government has set a target of adding one crore new Income tax payers during the financial year 2015-16. The said target has been further distributed among various field units of the Income Tax Department,” Sinha said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.

Sinha said in this financial year over 2.4 crore income tax returns have been filed till October 31, 2015.
The respective figures for 2014-15 were 3.67 crore; 3.74 crore in 2013-14 and 3.27 crore in 2012-13.
The number of income tax payers in the income bracket of Rs 1 crore and below was 2.39 crore as of October 31, 2015. For 2014-15 it was 3.66 crore; 3.73 crore in 2013-14 and 3.26 crore in 2012-13, said the minister.

“The total net direct collection in the current financial year (up to October 2015) is Rs 3.44 lakh crore showing growth of 13.20 per cent as compared to the collection made during the corresponding period of the previous financial year,” he said.

Sinha said government has taken a number of steps to expand the income tax base.

These steps include developing strategies to identify and add new taxpayers; collection of information about high value transactions; improving compliance to TDS/TCS provisions; encouraging voluntary compliance through education, camps and seminars

PTI

Government deductors get relief from fee u/s 234E for late submission of TDS statement

Government deductors get relief from fee u/s 234E for late submission of TDS statement

Press Information Bureau
Government of India
Ministry of Finance

06-March-2014 16:54 IST

Due-Date of Filing of TDS/TCS Statements for FY 2012-13 (2nd to 4th Quarter) and FY 2013-14 (1st to 3rd Quarter) Extended upto 31.03.2014 in the Case of Government Deductors

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) had received several petitions from various deductors requesting waiver of fee levied u/s 234E of the Income-tax Act for delay in filing of TDS/TCS statements. It was stated that the delay was because of certain difficulties being faced by the Government deductors for reasons beyond their control.

On a consideration of the difficulties being cited by the deductors, the CBDT has decided, as a one-time exception, to ex-post facto extend the due date of filing of TDS/TCS statements for FY 2012-13 (2nd to 4th Quarter) and FY 2013-14 (1st to 3rd Quarter) to 31.03.2014 in the case of Government deductors. This will have an effect of automatic waiver of the fee u/s 234E so levied. However, any fee already paid by a Government deductor shall not be refunded.

Government urges all tax Payers to pay Appropriate taxes and to disclose their True income within the Current Financial Year...

Government urges all tax Payers to pay Appropriate taxes and to disclose their True income within the Current Financial Year...

A Compliance Management Cell has been set-up to Ensure Follow-up Action and Track Return Filing and Tax Payment of the Target Segment; 70,000 Letters are being sent in 2 Batches to High Priority Cases in this Month

The Union Finance Minister Shri P. Chidambaram has repeatedly emphasized that there is need for a non–intrusive tax administration to enable the tax payer to file his/her return and pay appropriate taxes.

In the statement made by the Revenue Secretary, Government of India to the media on 11th February 2013, he had mentioned that the Directorate of Systems has undertaken a business intelligence project to identify PAN holders who have not filed Income Tax Return and about whom specific information is available in Annual Information Return (AIR), Central Information Branch (CIB) data and TDS/TCS Returns. Information in the Cash Transaction Reports (CTRs) of FIU-IND was also included as part of this data matching exercise. This data analysis has identified target segment of 12,19,832 non-filers linked to more than 4.7 crore information records. Rule based algorithms were used to identify high priority cases for follow-up and monitoring.

Letters were sent in three batches to 1,05,000 high priority cases seeking to know whether the person had filed his Income Tax return or not. The letter contained the summary of the information of financial transaction(s) along with a customized response sheet.

Preliminary assessment of the results show that a large number of taxpayers have filed return of income and paid self assessment tax after initiation of this exercise. Taxes of more than Rs. 600 crore has been paid as self assessment tax and advance tax by the target segment in last three months.

This exercise is now being expanded and a compliance management cell has been set up to ensure follow-up action and track return filing and tax payment of the target segment. Another 70,000 letters are being sent in 2 batches to other high priority cases in this month, of these, the first batch of 35,000 letters has been dispatched on 20/5/2013.

This data analysis initiative has also helped in defining the scope and requirements of a comprehensive Data Warehouse and Business Intelligence (DW & BI) Project of the Income Tax Department. The DW&BI Project will develop a comprehensive integrated platform for effective utilisation of available and accessible information to promote voluntary compliance, deter non-compliance and impart confidence that all eligible persons pay appropriate tax. The project will integrate enterprise data warehouse, data mining, web mining, predictive modelling, data exchange, master data management, centralised processing, compliance risk management and case analysis capabilities.

Government once again urges all tax payers to disclose their true income and pay appropriate taxes within the current financial year.