{"id":5324,"date":"2017-08-21T17:36:28","date_gmt":"2017-08-21T17:36:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sunkrish.com\/?p=5324"},"modified":"2017-08-21T17:37:22","modified_gmt":"2017-08-21T17:37:22","slug":"income-tax-scrutiny-to-remain-limited-despite-itr-filings-surge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sunkrish.com\/index.php\/2017\/08\/21\/income-tax-scrutiny-to-remain-limited-despite-itr-filings-surge\/","title":{"rendered":"Income tax scrutiny to remain limited despite ITR filings surge"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Enforcement action by the income tax department will be reserved for cases where specific tip-offs regarding large-scale tax evasions have been received<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The income tax department will maintain the number of income tax returns (ITRs) chosen for scrutiny at the current level of less than 1% of all returns, in spite of a surge in individual tax filings to keep the process non-intrusive and taxpayer-friendly.<\/p>\n

Gentle persuasion through text messages, emails and advertisements will remain the department\u2019s main ways of interacting with taxpayers, while enforcement action will be reserved for cases where specific tip-offs regarding large-scale evasions have been received.<\/p>\n

Out of the 52.8 million income-tax returns filed for the 2015-16 fiscal year, only about 300,000 cases, or around 0.6%, were scrutinized, a person privy to the deliberations within the tax department said on condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven when the number of our assessees grow, scrutiny will be limited to this level\u2014250,000-400,000 cases. It will always be less than 1% of returns received. We are absolutely non-intrusive to almost everyone. Even in most of the cases scrutinized, we do not hold searches or surveys,\u201d the person cited above said, adding that the income-tax department vests its faith in taxpayers.<\/p>\n

Searches conducted by the tax authorities\u2014about 600 such cases happen in a year\u2014will also stay at this level in future. \u201cOnly when we get very, very specific information of tax evasion of a substantial amount, we take enforcement action,\u201d said the person.<\/p>\n

The department recently sent 17 million text messages to individuals urging them to file returns for fiscal 2017 before the due date of 5 August, said the official.<\/p>\n

This has led to a 25% jump in personal income-tax return filings for fiscal year 2016-17 to 27.9 million before the due date compared to the same period in the previous year.<\/p>\n

Going by past trends, this figure could rise to about 66\u00a0million returns by the end of March 2018. Returns for a particular fiscal year can be filed by the end of the next year, called the assessment year, with interest on tax dues if any.<\/p>\n

Close to three-fifths of the 52.8 million returns the department received for 2015-16 had come in after the due date in August 2016.<\/p>\n

\u201cEngaging with people through electronic means is easy and is a better strategy to ensure compliance than scrutinizing more tax returns. It is important for taxpayers to meticulously keep a record of their financial matters to remain compliant,\u201d said Rahul Garg, a partner at consulting firm PwC India.<\/p>\n

The income-tax department is also processing refunds faster. It has started issuing refunds within 10 days to taxpayers who have met the 5 August deadline for filing returns.<\/p>\n

Individuals who make large purchases, such as houses, or cars priced above Rs10 lakh, but do not file income-tax returns figure among those who receive gentle reminders to file their returns as the authority secures information about such transactions from other sources.<\/p>\n

Linking the permanent account number (PAN) used in filing tax returns with Aadhaar, the 12-digit number issued by Unique Identification Authority of India that identifies individuals using biometrics, is also enabling officials to check if the investments and spending of income-tax assessees are in line with their known sources of income.<\/p>\n

So far, 94 million PANs have been linked with Aadhaar numbers after the central government made quoting the unique identification number compulsory for the filing of income-tax returns from July onwards.<\/p>\n

Source: Live Mint<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The income tax department will maintain the number of income tax returns (ITRs) chosen for scrutiny at the current level of less than 1% of all returns, in spite of a surge in individual tax filings to keep the process … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3367,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[492,4,493,491],"tags":[483,322,455,451,523,484,413],"class_list":["post-5324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-accounting-standards-audit-due-diligence","category-financial-corporate-services","category-economy-business-updates-corporate-affairs","category-income-tax-e-filing-of-returns-for-individuals-partnerships-companies","tag-aadhaar","tag-e-filing","tag-income-tax","tag-income-tax-return-itr","tag-online","tag-permanent-account-number-pan","tag-price-waterhouse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sunkrish.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sunkrish.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sunkrish.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sunkrish.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sunkrish.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5324"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sunkrish.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5324\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5326,"href":"https:\/\/sunkrish.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5324\/revisions\/5326"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sunkrish.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sunkrish.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sunkrish.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sunkrish.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}