(a) whether the Government has adopted measures
to promote self assessment of income by the assessees;
(b) the manner in which such assessment would be
beneficial to the tax payer;
(c) whether the Government has implemented any
scheme to improve the image of the Income Tax
Department; and
(d) if so, the details thereof?
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE (SHRI S.S. PALANIMANICKAM)
(a) Under the Income Tax Act, every assessee is
required to make a self- assessment of his
income and pay tax due thereon if the income is above
taxable limit.
(b) Such self assessment, if correctly made, saves
the tax-payer from interest/penalty/ prosecution
under the Income Tax Act.
(c)&(d) Following measures have been initiated by the
Income Tax Department to provide better tax-payer
service thereby improving its image:
(i) Computerised processing of returns has resulted in faster issue of refunds.
(ii) Income Tax Department`s website
`www.incometaxindia.gov.in` provides general
information about income tax law. From this site,
tax-payers can easily find and download up-to-date
information and various tax return forms and challans,
etc. A free return preparation software called
`SAMPARK` is also available on this website with the help
of which non- business tax-payers can prepare their
returns.
(iii) Facility for on-line filing of PAN / TAN application
is available and the applicants can also ascertain the
status of the application on line.
(iv) Under a scheme notified by the Department,
e-filing of returns has been introduced.
(v) A dedicated phone-in assistance for tax-payer
information and services has been launched by the
name of `ASK` (Aayakar Sampark Kendra).