(To benefit crores of stakeholders including taxpayers, Banks/Non-banking Finance Corporations (NBFCs) and the IT Deptt. by avoiding unnecessary paperwork and aligning with the Digital India initiative.)
๐ญ. ๐ฃ๐ฅ๐ข๐๐๐๐ ๐ฆ๐ง๐๐ง๐๐ ๐๐ก๐ง
The current system forces taxpayers to rush to each bank/NBFC every April with physical Form 121 (formerly 15G/H) or send these forms by post or through brokers for which they receive no acknowledgement and to bear the risk of forms lost in transit, banks/NBFCs to drown in paperwork with heavy storage burden, and IT Deptt. to collate millions of forms. Even then, the IT Deptt. gets no real-time view if a taxpayer’s total income declared through all his forms crosses the tax-free limit since Form 121 is submitted to different banks/NBFCs having no coordination between them and, therefore, data cannot be aggregated at the PAN level. This is something in which the IT Deptt. is greatly interested but which is practically impossible to achieve through the present paper-based method.
๐ฎ. ๐ฃ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฃ๐ข๐ฆ๐๐ ๐ฆ๐ข๐๐จ๐ง๐๐ข๐ก: ๐๐๐ก๐ง๐ฅ๐๐๐๐ญ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ฅ๐๐ง๐๐ข๐ก ๐ข๐ก ๐ง๐๐ ๐-๐๐๐๐๐ก๐ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ฅ๐ง๐๐ ๐ข๐ ๐ง๐๐ ๐๐ง ๐๐๐ฃ๐ง๐ง.
I propose shifting Non-Taxable Income Declaration to the E-Filing portal of the IT Deptt. It will involve following 3 steps:
๐ฆ๐๐ฒ๐ฝ ๐ญ. ๐๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ง๐ฎ๐ ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐: Log into the E-Filing portal, click the ‘Non-Taxable Income Declaration’ link (to be created new as per the proposal), select the Financial Year, enter Estimated Income, and enter TAN of banks/NBFCs whom they want to request not to impose TDS while paying interest to them.
๐ฆ๐๐ฒ๐ฝ ๐ฎ. ๐๐ผ๐ฟ ๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ธ๐/๐ก๐๐๐๐: Tag PANs in their database for ‘No TDS’ for all PANs present in IT Deptt.'s database. Update payable income in IT Deptt.'s database with their database (both the jobs automatically done by computer).
๐ฆ๐๐ฒ๐ฝ ๐ฏ. ๐๐ผ๐ฟ the ๐๐ง ๐๐ฒ๐ฝ๐๐.: Tag a taxpayer if total income payable to him by all banks/NBFCs crosses the tax-free limit (automatically done by computer).
๐ฏ. ๐๐๐ฌ ๐๐๐ก๐๐๐๐ง๐ฆ
๐ฎ) ๐๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ง๐ฎ๐ ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐: No branch visits, sending forms by post or through brokers not required, no need of taking acknowledgement, no risk of forms lost in transit
๐ฏ) ๐๐ผ๐ฟ ๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ธ๐/๐ก๐๐๐๐: No paper work, forwarding hard/soft copies of Form 121 to IT Deptt. not required, saving of thousands of man-hours, no paper storage
๐ฐ) ๐๐ผ๐ฟ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ง ๐๐ฒ๐ฝ๐t.: Automated e-verification if income declared through forms exceeds tax-free limit, no papers to collate
๐ฑ) ๐๐ฒ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐น ๐๐ฒ๐ป๐ฒ๐ณ๐ถ๐๐: Significant reduction in compliance costs, substantial paper savings, avoidance of postal charges and travel, environment protection
The detailed proposal can be accessed here:
REPLACING FORM 121 WITH ONLINE DECLARATION ON E-FILING PORTAL: A PROPOSAL FOR CBDT
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