Tax officials to be more specific with taxpayers soon!

Acting upon complaints of harassment by tax officials, the Cental Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has directed its field offices to ensure that the assessment notices sent out contains specific queries regarding the documents that need to be furnished by assessee.

The CBDT in its notice to its regional offices pointed out that Assessment Officers are not clear with their requirements such as producing the
accounts and other requisite documents.

"In cases seected for scrutiny, it should be the endeavour of the AO that the initial notice issued under Section 143(2) of I-T Act accompany a notice... along with the questionnaire containing details of specific document/ information/evidence that are required to be furnished by the taxpayer in connection with scrutiny assessment proceeding in their respective cases," CBDT said as reported by PTI.

This obscurity results in confusion for the taxpyers as they don’t have a clue about the documents that needs to be submitted.

"... and their appearance before the AO does not serve any fruitful purpose except recording of their presence. This causes undue hardships to taxpayers and unnecessary wastage of their time," added the agency.

"Since CASS (Computer Assisted Scrutiny Selection) cycles are proposed to be run well in advance now, sufficient time shall be available with the AO to go through the returns of income which have been selected for scrutiny and identify the issues which require examination," CBDT further noted.