Taxmen appraisal is now pro-people

In order to prevent harassment of tax payers, the performance of income-tax officials will now be judged based on their quality of assessments, the pace of disposal and efforts made towards widening of tax base. This system is expected to bring about “greater judiciousness” in application of law by the assessing officers.

Finance minister Arun Jaitley has been maintaining that the present taxation policy should be non-adversarial and taxpayer-friendly.

The income-tax department said on Friday that it has modified the Ann-ual Performance Apprai-sal Report (APAR) of ass-essing officers (income-tax officers as well as assistant commissioners/deputy commissioners of income tax) to bring about greater accountability in assessment functions.

“In the revised format, the performance of the assessing officers will also be specifically measured for quality of assessment, the pace of disposal, and efforts made towards widening of tax base,” said the department.

The modified APAR form will be applicable for the reporting year 2015-16. This measure is another step by the income-tax department to provide a non-adversarial tax regime.

Last week, CBDT had issued instructions to the assessing officers to be specific in enquires made in the case of tax payers whose returns are under scrutiny.

The assessing officers were advised to inform the assessee clearly about the reasons for limited scrutiny, confine their enquiries on the specific points for which the case has been selected and conclude the proceedings expeditiously in a limited number of hearings.