The Central Information Commission (CIC) has advised the Income Tax Department to introduce a taxpayer-friendly mechanism to resolve TDS discrepancies.
The recommendation came in an order issued by Information Commissioner Vinod Kumar Tiwari while dealing with a complaint involving TDS credit mismatches across several assessment years.
The CIC noted that taxpayers often run from "pillar to post" to fix mismatches between Form 16 issued by the Drawing and Disbursing Officer (DDO) and Form 26AS maintained by the tax department. The commission observed that authorities sometimes question the taxpayer instead of holding the responsible deductor accountable.
To improve the system, the CIC suggested that the department should first seek clarification from the deductor or DDO regarding whether the tax was correctly deducted and reported. If the issue persists, both the taxpayer and deductor should be heard together for a transparent resolution.
However, in the present case, the commission found no deliberate denial of information by the Central Public Information Officer and dismissed the complaint, stating that replies were provided based on available records.
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