• Investment World
• eWorld
• Catalyst
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest

Mohan Padmanabhan

Kolkata , Dec. 29

THE Income-Tax Department (West Bengal), whose jurisdiction extends to Sikkim and the Andaman & Nicobar Islands, as part of a national effort, has evolved a multi-pronged strategy for recovery of arrears.

This includes putting in place an effective Management Information System (MIS), rightful exercise of statutory powers and fresh steps to gear up the administrative set-up engaged in the task. The Department is now placing more emphasis on less intrusive enforcement methods, such as a system of matching "third party information" for deepening of the tax base.

Categorising the broad types of arrears as "collectibles, non-collectibles and arrears difficult to recover," highly placed I-T officials said so far as collectibles were concerned, for recovery, in appropriate cases, instalments are granted to the assessee where he is found to be not in a position to pay the entire demand in lump sum. In suitable cases, recovery is made by attachment and sale of movable and immovable properties.

The sources said the task of collecting data and analysing it was being done by the Central Information Branch (CIB) wing of the Department. It is learnt that an overhaul of the CIB system to facilitate the setting up of a Tax Information Network (characterised by processing and matching of data on high-value financial transactions obtained through Annual Information Returns) was now on the anvil. The network is expected to be functional during 2003-04.

In the intervening period, priority has been accorded to five specific sources from where data would be collected in computer-compatible media and processed and matched at the national level. According to knowledgeable sources, this measure was expected to create a sizeable impact throughout the country, which may ultimately help maximise revenue collections.

The five sources are cell-phone service providers in respect of annual bills of Rs 25,000 and above, power utilities for annual bills of Rs 25,000 and above, credit card issuers for annual bills of Rs 25,000 and above, car dealers for purchases of cars costing Rs 3 lakh and above, and banks. Officials said the CIB units in West Bengal were now making all efforts to collect information for 2002-03 from the top-priority sources for onward transmission to the Directorate of Systems, New Delhi, for processing.

It is learnt that on a pilot basis, the CIB unit in Kolkata has also developed a software by which information has been matched with the PAN database to generate a list of persons not having PAN from amongst the persons in the list of the source information. The result of the pilot is said to be under evaluation now.

The CIB now collects information from specific sources such as the Central Board of Excise and Customs, Registrar of Companies, Sales Tax Department, Regional Transport Officer, Electricity Boards, Housing Boards, Registrar of Issue of Shares, stock exchanges, transport agencies, etc.

In the case of untapped potential assessees for augmenting revenue collections, special attention will now be given to persons engaged in businesses in the service sector, such as caterers, cyber café owners, PCO booth owners, beauty parlours, video game parlours, etc. The sources said extensive training was now being imparted to officers on specialised economic activities to acquaint them with the latest trends in tax evasion, and the methods to combat them.

The sources informed that in order to make the data collection process more effective and meaningful, in the recent past, some 36 sources of information have been specified and clubbed under four broad category groups. These are, a) Group of sources of information for operation of one-by-six scheme, b) group for investigation relating to compulsory quoting of PAN, c) group for information about high-worth assessees, and c) group for information regarding persons registered with other agencies. And for the purpose of processing and matching the information with the PAN database, a processing unit has been set up under Commissioner of Income Tax, CIB. Officials said the CIB unit in Kolkata was now in the process of setting up of the Data Centre.

Asked on the administrative back-up, the sources said the machinery and monitoring mechanism are being strengthened.

Advance tax collections are now being closely monitored by following the trend of payments by the top companies, particularly by matching payments with declarations in the companies' quarterly returns. For improved collections by way of self-assessment, tax stop-filers and non-filers are being identified, and based on indications from income returns and other available information, suspect cases are being selected for scrutiny.

While surveys are also being conducted in appropriate cases, the scrutiny assessments done are being reviewed by senior officers.

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication

Stories in this Section
GDP growth fails to check plunge in jobs

Copyright © 2003, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line