The Hindu Business Line : Law Minister for simpler income-tax assessment

The Union Law Minister, Mr H. R. Bhardwaj, has called for a simple system of income-tax assessment. He has also stressed the need to ensure that there was no harassment of taxpayers.

"A simple system of income-tax assessment eludes us. In the name of simplicity, we are complicating it in terms of the forms, procedures etc. It has to be seen that there is no harassment of taxpayers", Mr Bhardwaj said after inaugurating new courtrooms of Delhi benches of the Income-Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) here on Saturday.

He felt that there should not be any fascination for too many layers of appeals given the changed economic environment and the general leaning towards attracting more foreign investments.

The Law Secretary, Mr T. K. Viswanathan, later said that the income tax law was complex because the policy was complex. He also said that tax administration and lawmakers have to grapple with newer challenges as India integrates with the world. In particular, he identified transfer pricing as an area of challenge for tax administration.

`Worthy of emulation'

On the functioning of the ITAT, Mr Viswanathan said that the Tribunal's track record in arrear management was excellent and worthy of emulation by the High Courts. On the proposed National Tax Tribunal (NTT), the Law Secretary expressed hope about "getting it through".

Pendency of cases

The ITAT President, Mr Vimal Gandhi, said that the pendency of cases has come down to 1,03,000 as on June 30, 2006 from a level of around 3 lakhs in 1998.

"We are trying hard to reduce this figure to a manageable level of about 50,000 to 60,000 appeals which are filed with us every year. My ultimate target is to ensure that an appeal is disposed of within one year from the date of filing," Mr Gandhi said. He also highlighted that the higher courts interfere with only 3-4 per cent of the orders of the ITAT.

The President of ITAT Bar Association, Delhi, Mr K. Sampath, made a case for restoring to the Tribunal the powers to frame substantial questions of law. This power was taken away from the Tribunal in 1997.

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Law Minister for simpler income-tax assessment