I-T officers doubtful about the efficacy of e-Assessment scheme

Even as the Income Tax (IT) Department is gearing up for a seamless implementation of the e-Assessment scheme, senior IT officers are doubtful about the efficacy of the tax assessment. They have raised questions about the quality of orders generated by such an assessment process.

The process of the e-assessment scheme, which was launched on Monday, will reduce the human interference between Assessing Officer and assessee. It is also expected to reduce corruption and harassment of taxpayers.

However, the process is far from being streamlined and confusion-free, therefore, webcasts are being held between tax circles.

Today afternoon one such webcast would be held in Mumbai to fine-tune the assessment process.

Read also: Income Tax Department launches faceless e-Assessment scheme

Senior IT officers told BusinessLine that team-based assessment with dynamic jurisdiction and decentralize decision-making process is currently seen as rigmarole, especially by the younger cadre of IT officers. It could also lead to tax demands, which may not be fulfilled by the assessee, leading to further litigation.

On Monday, Revenue Secretary, Ajay Bhushan Pandey along with Central Board of Direct Taxes Chairman P C Mody inaugurated the National e-Assessment Scheme (NeAC).

NeAC will be an independent office that will look after the work of e-Assessment scheme. There would be a NeAC in New Delhi, headed by Principal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax. There are eight Regional e-Assessment Centres (ReAC) set up at Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Pune, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. Each ReAC would comprise of assessment unit, review unit, technical unit and verification unit.

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