Measures taken by govt to simplify tax filings

With a view of minimize the cost of compliance of the taxpayers, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has taken several measures to make tax payment and statutory filings simple and convenient for the taxpayer, including-

• Online application for allotment of Permanent Account Number (PAN) and Tax-Deduction Account Number (TAN)

• Single page challan for payment of tax through authorized banks.

• Online payment of taxes.

• Online viewing of tax credits.

• Online filing of return f income and return of TDS.

• Centralized processing of returns and electronic intimation of orders.

• Direct credit of refunds upto a limit to the bank account of taxpayer through ECS and sending of refunds vouchers by refund banker to the taxpayer directly.

• Online filing of rectification application.

• Facility of Tax Return Preparers to assist the taxpayer in preparing his return of income or TDS.

• Establishment of Aayakar Seva Kendra (ASK) Centres in various locations to provide a single window service delivery platform.

These facilities have already substantially mitigated the problems of the taxpayers by reducing the time and effort required for discharging their statutory obligations and by minimizing the need to visit the Income-tax office. Moreover, streamlining of tax collection process is done on an on-going basis as part of revenue management.

To facilitate the taxpayers and to provide end-to-end e-enabled services, the Income Tax Return for A.Y. 2015-16 can be verified electronically.

A taxpayer may verify his return through Internet Banking or through Aadhaar based authentication process.

For the convenience of small taxpayer having total income of Rs. 5 lakhs or below without any claim of refund, facility for generating Electronic Verification Code (EVC) has also been provided on the E-filing website of the Department. Ins uch cases EVC will be sent to the registered email ID and mobile number of the taxpayer.

Person using this facility will not be required to submit a signed paper copy of ITR-Verification Form (ITR-V) to CPC Bengaluru.

In case a taxpayers is unable to electronically verify the ITR using the EVC for any reason, then, the signed copy of ITR-V may be sent within the specified time of 120 days to CPC Bengaluru by ordinary post or Speed Post.

Details regarding e-verification are available in Notification 2/2015 issued on 13th July 2015 at http://incometaxindia.gov.in/news/evc/notification-13-07-2015.pdf .

This was stated by Shri Jayant Sinha, Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance in written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.