assessing officers

WITH computerisation gaining pace in the Income Tax Department, and the policy makers' reliance on machine increasingly growing, the CBDT has finally decided to switch over computer-generated certificates and do away with the manual exercise for issuing withholding tax certificates under Sec 197. In its latest direction to the field formations, the CBDT topbrass has issued Instruction No 04/2010, directing Assessing Officers (AOs) to mandatorily issue Sec 197 Certificate.. Full Article

Income tax evaders are being pushed into an increasingly tight corner – the I-T department is planning restructuring that will help assessing officers spend more time on an assessee than they do now. Currently in Mumbai, an assessing officer, the individual who actually detects tax evasion after going through the assessee’s files, scrutinises an average of 400 cases a year. Full Article

Income tax refunds may get delayed for a fortnight, following a complete revamp of security buffers in the computer software system of tax departments across the country, after the discovery last week that someone had hacked into an account and made off with Rs 11 crore. Full Article

The Income Tax department is giving special attention to tax deducted at source (TDS) as it aims to turn in the highest ever collection from the segment this financial year. During the last five years, the contribution from TDS had gone up from 33 per cent to 38.5 per cent of the net direct tax collection with an annual average growth of around 25 per cent. Full Article

and 15.4.2008-reg I am directed to invite your attention to the above-mentioned subject and to say that, a reference was received from the Ministry of Agriculture Food & Public Distribution to consider extension of export obligation period for those Advance License Holders who had imported raw sugar between 21.9.2004 and 15.4.2008 but had not yet fulfilled their export obligations. Full Article

More than 6,300 frozen demat accounts are now finding some claimants, giving new leads to the Income Tax department's probe in the matter pertaining to Rs 6,700 crore of unclaimed stocks. A number of accounts were lying idle since 2007 and no transactions were being carried out in them for almost two years. A number of such accounts have now been claimed which the department is scrutinising, official sources said. Full Article

The Government has been rightly concerned about the component of black money in real estate transactions and consequent evasion of tax. With a view to curb the said menace and to tax the unaccounted money, the Government has time and again made amendments in the Income-tax Act (Act) by introducing different provisions to tackle the issue. Full Article

If the AO has cause or justification to know or suppose that income has escaped assessment it can be said to have a reason to believe that an income had escaped assessment; at the time of recording reasons for initiating proceedings u/s 147 it is not necessary that the Assessing Officer should have finally ascertained the fact by legal evidence or conclusion; at the initial stage what is required is `reason to believe' but no established fact of escapement of income. Full Article