The entire process of filing of taxes will undergo a sea change soon. The income tax department is close to a tie-up with the National Securities Depository Ltd that will allow taxpayers to file their returns online.
Besides tying up with the NSDL, the department is also creating a network of almost 10,500 branches of commercial banks, designated as tax collection centres.
Once the project is completed, assessees will be able to pay tax anywhere in the country. Not only that, refunds, if any, will also be credited directly to an assessee's account.
Moreover, assessees will receive acknowledgments in a dematerialised format, instead of challans.
They will also be able to easily access information pertaining to payments, refunds etc.
This income tax department is also trying to ensure that applicants are furnished with permanent account numbers within 10 days of the submission of requests. Also, assessees will be refunded within four months of filing their tax returns.
"We have embarked on a major outsourcing drive of our non-core functions. As domestic tax rates are in sync with global trends, we are striving to come up to international standards on the services front," B Swarup, Member, Central Board of Direct Taxes, said.
The department will invest Rs 250 crore (Rs 2.5 billion) to upgrade its information technology infrastructure this year, he added.
The department is now focusing on the payment of refunds. This was underscored by the fact that the department made out 39,87,000 refund vouchers amounting to Rs 22,676 crore (Rs 226.76 billion) in 2002-03 against 26,72,000 vouchers amounting to Rs 17,304 crore (Rs 173.04 billion) in 2001-02.
Also, the number of assessees increased 20 per cent in 2002-03 to 34 million from 28.4 million in 2001-02.
The quality of search and seizure operations also improved in the last financial year. The amount seized went up 53 per cent to Rs 532.15 crore (Rs 5.32 billion) from Rs 295.71 crore (Rs 2.96 billion) in 2001-02.
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