cbdt: CBDT orders restructuring of I-T dept; Aims to weed out anomalies in faceless regime

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has constituted a task force to restructure the entire Income-tax department.

The panel, which comprises 10 senior officials of the department, will reassess the role and functions of the department and weed out the anomalies in the new faceless regime meant to cut down physical interface between a taxpayer and the department.

A copy accessed by the ET showed that the CBDT had given the panel a seven-point agenda, including restructuring the department and rationalizing the national and regional e-assessment centres -the primary gateway in communicating with taxpayers. The task force will need to submit its recommendations by March 31, 2022. The move is significant as taxpayers have raised concerns over anomalies in the new regime since the government introduced it last year.

They flagged up challenges like local and regional barriers such as language where they (taxpayers) unable to explain their case as the assessing officer is from another part of the country.

Similarly, in Complex cases concerning capital gains computation, international taxation are equally challenging as it requires a certain expertise in the matter. Taskforce shall reassess functional requirement factoring in new realities and accordingly work out the geographical distribution, the order said.

It has been also asked to think through in terms of restructuring of work, identifying the process flow and creating an appropriate structure to handle the processes. I-T systems is playing a vital role so panel should keep it as a common thread running through functional vertical. Along with maintaining the uniform structure across the region, the order stated.

The panel may also look into the previous cadre restructuring report of 2013, or any other previous reports while suggesting changes, the order said.

Notably, a few months ago, the National Faceless Assessment Centre had sought a restructuring of the faceless system by merging the role of supervisory officers from the level of Commissioner of Income Tax (CIT) and above. The faceless centre, constituted by the CBDT-works as an interface for FAS rolled out last year.