The Income Tax Department is ushering in a paradigm shift in its working by introducing faceless e-assessment to impart greater efficiency, transparency and accountability in the assessment process.
There will be no physical interface between the taxpayers and the tax officers, the Finance Ministry announced on Sunday.
Finance & Corporate Affairs Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will tomorrow inaugurate a National e-Assessment Centre (NeAC) here in the presence of Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur. Officers of the Income Tax Department shall also be linked through Multimedia Video Conferencing at Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Pune and Bengaluru.
The setting up of the National e-Assessment Centre (NeAC) will be a momentous step towards the larger objectives of better taxpayer service, reduction of taxpayer grievances in line with Prime Minister’s vision of ‘Digital India’ and promotion of ease of doing business, the Ministry said.
Under the new system, taxpayers have received notices on their registered emails as well as on registered accounts on the web portal www.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in, with real-time alert by way of SMS on their registered mobile number, specifying the issues for which their cases have been selected for scrutiny.
The replies to the notices can be prepared at ease by the tax-payers at their own residence or office and be sent by email to the National e-Assessment Centre by uploading the same on the designated web portal. This initiative by the CBDT is aimed at further easing compliance by the tax-payers.