UPSC Articles
“Transparent Taxation — Honouring the Honest” platform
Part of: GS Prelims and Mains II and III – Govt policies and initiatives; Economy – Taxation
In news:
- “Transparent Taxation — Honouring the Honest” platform was launched recently.
- The platform provides faceless assessment, faceless appeal and a taxpayers’ charter.
Faceless Assessment:
- Under faceless assessment, the scrutiny of returns of a taxpayer will be done by a tax officer selected at random and not necessarily from the same jurisdiction.
- This will do away the need for any face-to-face contact between the taxpayer and tax official, thereby reducing the chances of coercion and rent-seeking.
- The move is expected to ease the compliance burden for assessees and reward the “honest taxpayer”, who plays a big role in nation-building.
- A faceless tax system would give the taxpayer confidence on fairness and fearlessness.
- It helps to maintain the privacy and confidentiality of income taxpayers.
- The assessment system seeks to eliminate corrupt practices by doing away with the territorial jurisdiction of income-tax offices.
Faceless appeal facility:
- This facility would be available to all citizens from September 25 (Deen Dayal Upadhyaya’s birth anniversary)
- A faceless appeal system would allow the taxpayer to appeal against a tax official’s decision without the need of making a physical representation.
Taxpayers’ charter
- The taxpayers’ charter was announced in the Union Budget for fiscal year 2020-21 by the Finance Minister.
- The charter outlines the rights and duties of an honest taxpayer.
- It also defines the commitment of the tax department and the expectations from the taxpayers.
- It is a step towards bringing together rights and duties of the taxpayer and fixing the government’s responsibilities towards the taxpayer
Do you know?
- All these above reforms are likely to empower citizens by ensuring time-bound services by the Income Tax Department.
- PM appealed to those not paying taxes, despite having the ability, to come forward and commit themselves to the cause of making the country self-reliant.
