Expanding Tax Base In India- TARC Recommends Measures

Third Report of the Tax Administration Reform Commission (TARC) (F. No. TARC/Report/36/2014-15 Dated 30.11.2014), Recommends  measures for Expanding the Base

Justice Wendell Homes once said “With taxes, I buy civilisation’’ It means that taxes are the cost paid for living in a society and for being part of civilisation. Taxes also need to be utilised to meet basic functions of the state like defence, law, justice, public services and good governance. Unfortunately, people take taxes only as a burden on their income and treat the filing of returns as a mere formality.

In the last ten years, direct tax collection has increased by more than 700 per cent (from Rs.69, 198 crore to Rs.5,58,965 crore), but the number of taxpayers has grown by only about 35 per cent. The total number of taxpayers in the lowest income slab, (i.e. up to Rs.5 lakh) comprises 98.30 per cent of total taxpayers, from whom 10.1 per cent of the tax revenues are collected. The highest slab of above Rs.20 lakh comprises a meagre 0.38 per cent of total taxpayers, contributing 63 per cent of tax revenues. In FY2008-09, the numbers of corporate taxpayers in the Rs.0-100-crore slab was 463,507 and those above Rs.500-crore slab numbered just 186 taxpayers.206 This suggests that the income tax base in revenue terms is very narrow and adversely affects tax buoyancy.

India has a low taxpayer base even as a percentage of the total population. With a population of over 120 crore, only 17 crore have a PAN207 and of these, about 3.6 crore file income tax returns. Only 3.3 per cent of the population pays tax, which is very low compared to 39 per cent in Singapore, 46 per cent in the USA, and 75 per cent in New ZealandThis, of course, reflects India’s low income levels, which, for a large part of the population, falls below the basic income tax threshold; yet huge potential remains to expand the taxpayer base. However, due to various structural reasons that are explained later, the base could perhaps be doubled at most to say 7 per cent. A huge gap has also been noticed between the number of entities to which tax deduction and tax collection account number (TAN) has been allotted vis-à-vis the number of deductors filing income tax returns. A significant cause for the difference is that not all those allotted TAN file returns.

Even though widening the tax base has been one of the key action plan areas for the last several years, achievement has fallen short of targets. There, therefore, is an urgent need to enlarge the tax base as well as taxpayer base (which is not commensurate with the growth in income and wealth seen over the years) through both policy as well as enforcement action by bringing into the tax net high net worth assessees and potential tax payers. Even after allowing for agriculture households, dependent family members, and other relevant criteria, the tax base should be far larger than it is at present. It is possible to increase the number of income tax taxpayers from the present 3.5 crore to at least 6 crore. Assuming a family size of 5, there are 24 crore families in India. Assuming, further, that 30 per cent of the households earn only subsistence wages and another 20 per cent are below the income tax threshold, there will be 12 crore potential taxpayers. If one-half of this is assumed to derive income from agriculture, there will be 60 million or 6 crore potential taxpayers. There is, thus, significant scope to increase the tax payer base and a lot of this increase will need to come from both increasing the tax base and ensuring true income disclosures. Widening the tax base raises equity, because if all persons liable to pay tax are brought on tax records, the burden on existing taxpayers can be brought down. The overall level of compliance improves when a large number of persons who are legally required to file returns, do so. It also encourages others to comply with their legal obligation to pay their taxes dutifully.

A drop in the number of new taxpayers has come in spite of measures like making it mandatory to quote PAN for certain transactions, transactions over a specified value, collection of third party information, expanding areas of tax deduction at source, etc. Measures like withdrawal of excise exemption, imposition of excise duties on readymade garments, service tax on new services and a negative list approach for levy of service tax on the indirect tax side have also been aimed at bringing more people in the tax net but these have not been comprehensive enough to expand the taxpayer base.

The decline in taxpayers can be explained partly by the changes in the basic exemption limits for taxpayers, grant of additional exemptions, years of slowdown resulting in a slowing trend growth rate, closure of business, demise of the taxpayer, high incidence of retirement, huge unorganised (informal) sector, slack enforcement, lack of proper taxpayer education and a growing culture of large-scale cash transactions.

The focus has to be on bringing in new taxpayers, rather than putting a heavier burden on payers who are already in the tax net by targeting sectors that are currently untaxed, especially the informal/unorganised sectors. There also has to be a comprehensive review of exemptions, incentives, etc., with a view to rationalising them, which may require legislative changes. Attention has also to be given to minimisation of tax avoidance/evasion by developing a better understanding of the underground economy, both in terms of its size and the economic and behavioural factors that motivate players in the economy, identifying vulnerable areas of tax evasion, and co­ordination and collaboration with sister departments for exchange of information on a real time basis and its effective utilisation. Without impinging upon good taxpayers, tax avoidance needs to be examined very carefully in those identified areas and non-filers and stop-filers need to be targeted to widen the tax base. The tax administration needs to be oriented more towards customers, an idea adopted by many modernising tax administrations and recommended by the TARC in its report for improving voluntary compliance. This could go a long way in expanding the taxpayer base.

Further, it is necessary to explore avenues for tax reform that would lead to economic growth and resource mobilisation. Reports suggest that by implementing the GST (Goods and Services Tax), the economy will stand to gain $15 billion a year as it would boost exports, raise employment and promote overall economic growth by widening the tax base. The broadening of the tax base and greater compliance could boost tax collections, even while the overall tax rate could fall. A study by the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) also suggests that the GST could boost India’s GDP growth by 2-2.5 per cent.208

i) Number of taxpayers

a)    There has been a gradual increase in the number of non-corporate taxpayers for the categories Rs.2 lakh-Rs.5 lakh and Rs.5 lakh-Rs.10 lakh over the period FY2007-12 but only a moderate fluctuation in the category below Rs.2 lakh over the same period. The department should ascertain the reasons by analysing the data it is collecting and use the results to enhance the expansion of tax payer base. (Section XI.2.g)

b)   There is a gap in the number of corporate tax payers registered with the I-T department vis-à-vis the number of working companies registered with the Registrar of Companies (ROC), even though all of them are legally required to file returns mandatorily. The department should pursue this lead to identify corporates that are registered but have not filed returns. (Section XI.2.g)

c)    Only 33 per cent of registered persons under service tax filed returns in FY20 12-13 and the number fell short of the previous year’s figure by approximately 1 lakh. The CBEC needs to have this investigated and follow up with appropriate analysis for corrective action. It is well known that the unanticipated introduction of the “negative list”in service tax has caused intense ire among taxpayers. Is it this that has had an impact on the number of filers of service tax returns? A quick yet comprehensive survey is of the essence. (Section XI.2.g)

d)     More than 50 per cent of registered central excise taxpayers are not filing returns. Hence, a mechanism needs to be put in place to ensure the filing of returns by all registered taxpayers. The CBEC should investigate and analyse why the percentage of returns filed is so low compared to the number of registrations. A robust data analysis should form the backbone of such a mechanism. (Section XI.2.g)

e)    The tax base is not commensurate with the growth in both corporate and individual incomes in recent years that reflect the growth in the economy. An effective mechanism for collecting information from varied sources should be put in place to identify potential taxpayers and bring them into the tax net, broadening the tax base. (Section XI.2.g)

f)    The number of tax payers should be considerably more than it is at present. (Section XI.2.g)

g)      The number of income taxpayers should be doubled, from slightly more than 3 crore to 6 crore in three years, which would entail commensurate staff and financial resources to administer them. (Section XI.2.g)

h)   The CBDT should comprehensively identify reasons for the widening gap between PAN card holders and actual number of taxpayers as also between number of entities to whom TAN has been allotted via-a-vis number of deductors filing TDS returns. The result obtained should be used to enhance the taxpayer base. (Section XI.2.g)

i) The compliance system should be made simple and more user friendly to encourage voluntary compliance, thereby broadening the tax base. (Section XI.2.g)

ii) Collection, dissemination and effective use

j) There is at present no structured mechanism for matching PAN with non-PAN data. More data based investigation is required to develop such a mechanism as this would contribute to deepening and widening of the tax base. (Section XI.3.a)

iii) Tax deducted at source (TDS)

k)   TDS leaves an audit trail that acts as a deterrent to tax evasion and in early collection of tax as soon as a transaction takes place. It is a non-intrusive method of expanding the base. Regular monitoring of the tax deduction transactions should be made and compared with the tax return data to identify whether deductees file tax returns. (Section XI.5.j)

l)        TDS deductors must file the TDS returns on time, each quarter and must include the details of name of the deductees, their PAN and amount of transaction. (Section XI.5.j)

m)    TDS coverage should be expanded to capture more and more transactions, especially those that involve large amounts of cash but remain outside the tax net. (Section XI.5.j)

n)      The taxpayer base may not necessarily increase merely by introduction of TDS unless deductees and deductors file correct returns. To ensure that correct returns are filed, TDS needs to be supplemented by enhanced enforcement methods. (Section XI.5.j)

iv) Fringe benefit tax (FBT)

o) Reintroducing FBT would be an effective measure to widen the direct tax base, while doing so no distinction, as was being made earlier, be kept for the levy. This is a good temporary administrative measure for enhancing tax collection. This is a good temporary administrative measure for enhancing tax collection, until rising income tax collection makes it unnecessary. (Section XI.3.j)

v) Banking cash transaction tax (BCTT)

p) There is no instrument at present that captures details of cash withdrawals from bank accounts, other than savings accounts. The availability of such information would help the I-T department widen its information base on the use of black money since excessive cash withdrawal can help it understand the extent of the cash economy. Hence, Rule 1 14E of the I­T Act should be suitably revised to include in its ambit cash withdrawals exceeding specified amounts in a day from bank accounts other than savings accounts. Alternatively, BCTT should be reinstated as an effective administrative measure. (Section XI.3 .g)

vi) Presumptive taxation

q)   There is still a large number of individuals in businesses, trade, services and professions, (especially in the unorganised informal sector and sectors where large scale transactions take place in cash) who are outside the tax net. Therefore, the presumptive profit estimation scheme should be reviewed based on appropriate analysis and its scope enlarged. (Section XI.3.i)

r)     Many small businesses in the informal economy elude the tax net and remain untaxed. For these groups, the tax administration should design, promote, and establish simple, optional presumptive tax schemes, including those based on turnover or a compounding (turnover) basis, in service tax below a threshold. (Section XI.5.b)

s)       Since there is some scope for presumptive taxation in the I-T Act, which is applicable to only some business sectors with a turnover below a threshold limit, data mining remains crucial for analysis based strategies to examine if its scope should be expanded. (Section XI.5.b)

t)       The presumptive taxation scheme should be backed by taxpayer education programmes to bring taxpayers up to the point at which they can enter the regular tax system. This should be an important goal of the scheme. (Section XI.5.b)

u) In the ultimate analysis, under no circumstance should a taxpayer be allowed to hide for his entire productive life as a non-filer or in the comforting embrace of an unduly favourable presumptive taxation system. Progressive assimilation should be not only through education, but also through increased risk perception regarding the likelihood of penalties being imposed. (Section XI.5.a)

v)      It is equally important to ensure that large and medium enterprises which are in the normal system or should be there should not be allowed to migrate into the simplified system to avoid paying tax. (Section XI.5.a)

w) An effective method to monitor small enterprises that opt for presumptive taxation would be to insist on their filing declaration of their accounts annually and it should be made mandatory for them to issue sales/service bill for each transaction, with a serial number in a financial year. (Section XI.5.a)

vii) Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)

x) High tax rates, the inability to understand a complex tax system and procedures, and lack of confidence in government efficiency in the use of revenues are added reasons for low voluntary compliance. Therefore, tax administration measures to improve SMEs tax compliance should include

• quick and easy processes for registration and PAN issuance
• clear and easily available information on tax registration, filing and payment obligations and procedures, and a turnover based regime
• targeted risk selection and audit activities taking into account the specific characteristics of different groups of SMEs
• once compliance behaviour is understood, raising compliance is likely to again call for simplified returns, with simple profit and loss statement and simplified capital allowance so that whichever SME is selected, their audit remains fair and transparent and not prone to disputes
• setting up of at least 8 call centres for responding to, and resolving basic queries and
• visit by specialised officers in a group for SME support. (Section XI.5.b)

viii) Retail sector

y) Unorganised retailers often have a tendency not to pay taxes and most are not even registered for VAT at the state level or income tax and service tax at the central level. There is a distinct aversion to paying taxes. A conducive environment and tax culture should be created to encourage them to pay their tax dues voluntarily. (Section XI.5.d)

z) By encouraging small traders to use debit cards more extensively, by not only explaining to them their benefit but also increasing the per day cash withdrawal limit from ATM machines, they could be attracted to enter the organised sector. That would leave an audit trail of transactions undertaken by them, which could be leveraged for widening the taxpayer base. (Section XI.5.d)

aa) The small retail traders could be encouraged to enter the banking network by providing the facility of fast tracking applications for educational and housing loans once he is categorised as a tax payer. (Section XI.5.d)

ix) Agriculture income

bb) Large farmers should be brought into the tax net. Against a tax free limit of Rs.5 lakhs on agricultural income, farmers having income above much higher threshold income, such as Rs. 50 lakh, could be taxed. This will broaden the taxpayer base. (Section XI.5.e)

x)      Cash economy

cc) The cash economy is a major problem in the Indian economic system as large scale transactions reportedly take place in cash, especially in land dealings and the construction sector. A non-intrusive verification system should be designed so that more cases of capital gains liability are detected. (Section XI.5.c)

dd) Certain measures should be put in place to discourage cash transactions. For example, municipalities should be encouraged to bridge the gap between the circle rate that is used by them for property valuation for tax imposition, and the market value of properties (even allowing for a lower property tax rate), and increase the digital footprint of transactions. Mandatory mention of PAN should be made more prevalent, backed by robust information exchange between tax authorities and banks and other financial institutions (as detailed in Chapter IX of the TARC report) and the adoption of a common business identification number (CBIN). Indeed, the PAN should be used as a CBIN as recommended in Chapter VI of the TARC report. (Section XI.5.c)

ee) There is a need to develop better assessment of the underground economy both in terms of its size and the economic and behavioural factors that motivate the players in that economy. There is no recent study on the issue. Therefore, there is an urgent need to promote research in this area within the expanded, analysis-oriented Knowledge, Analysis and Intelligence Centre (KAIC) as recommended in Chapter III of the TARC report. That would provide much needed insight into the functioning of the black economy and how to harness it with appropriate revenue yielding administrative measures. (Section XI.5.b)

xi) Services sector

ff) The services sector has been growing over the years but has not been taxed in an optimal manner due to the tax administration’s incapacity to determine the actual potential of individuals working in these sectors, as well as over estimation and obvious errors in estimation in some sectors. The tax administration needs to be fully equipped with data and understanding of the business processes to be able to work out the correct business volumes, expenses, receipts and profitability of the business sector being reviewed in conjunction with information gathered from, and consultations with, chambers of industry and commerce. These parameters should also be well documented and circulated so that the taxpayer has a fair idea about parameters used to determine his tax liability. This will curtail the discretion of the tax administration and increase the transparency of implementation of tax laws in question. (Section XI.5.j)

xii)    High net worth individuals (HNWI)

gg) Wealth tax base can be increased by including intangible financial assets in the base while considerably raising the threshold and decreasing the wealth tax rate. (Section XI.5.g)

hh) Following international practices, the CBDT should also exclusively focus on HNWIs. Administratively there is need for a separate cell for HNWIs with a view to improving the understanding of different customer needs and behaviours in order to respond to them appropriately, assisting them to get their affairs right and pursuing those who bend or break the rules. (Section XI.5.g)

xiii)  Special tax treatments (exemptions/incentives/deductions)/Tax expenditure

ii) There should be a comprehensive review of exemptions. Both the Boards should consider measures to phase out unwarranted tax exemptions that continue in the form of various tax preferences. (Section XI.2.e)

jj) The CBEC should endeavour to analyse the outcomes of central excise exemptions and make the analysis available to the public. (Section XI.2.e)

kk) For service tax, the CBEC should consider ways to estimate revenue foregone and do a gap analysis. (Section XI.2.e)

ll) Specific economic parameters like growth rates of specific sectors, and growth of businesses and households should be identified and analysed for increasing the taxpayer base. The economic parameters, once selected, should be periodically verified, improved and modified. Schemes based on specific economic parameters should never be dropped midway without a critical evaluation of the effectiveness of the parameters selected and possible modification to suit revenue needs. Broad parameters should be narrowed down into more specific ones as experience in parameter analytics is gathered and consolidated. (Section XI.5.h)

mm) Exemptions/deductions based on area and industry should be minimised, if not done away with. If at all, investment incentives could receive a tax preference since they directly affect growth; even such incentives should be for a specific period of time and a sunset clause should be introduced to ensure a review of the benefit arising from a lower rate of tax or development of an industry/area. For all other categories, including SSIs, every attempt should be made to reduce tax preferences even if the likelihood of success in curbing the incentives may be expected to remain low. (Section XI.5.h)

nn) The “reverse charge” mechanism for the service causes many tax payer complaints. Its reform may bring a sizable number of potential taxpayers under the service tax net. (Section XI.5.h)

oo) There needs to be greater clarity on the coverage under various categories of services by way of illustrations. This should not only be customer focused, but should facilitate widening of the base under service tax. (Section XI.5.h)

pp) A comprehensive review of exemptions is needed to deepen and widen the tax base. In service tax particularly, an urgent study is needed on the impact of the implementation of the negative list to help develop a clear roadmap towards rationalising it by reducing the taxpayer distress that it has caused, and is continuing to cause. (Section XI.5.h)

xiv)  Survey, search and seizure

qq) Surveys and technology based information and intelligence systems should be used to identify potential taxpayers. Action needs to be taken jointly by the direct and indirect tax administrations in an integrated and co-ordinated manner to get better results. Databases of different agencies like the Medical Council of India and AADHAAR should be used to locate non-filers and stop filers. (Section XI.5.k)

rr) Surveys should be based on growth trend in sectors and industries especially clusters of business units known for use of undocumented and cash transactions; expenditure and opulent life style etc. Tax administration should develop/use software to zero in on such behavioural indicators. (Section XI.5.k)

ss) A combined survey effort with the states should also be considered with reference to the National Population Registry database available at the state level. (Section XI.5.k)

tt) Search and seizure mechanisms should be used in a co-ordinated manner in limited cases. To achieve better results information should be shared in a structured and integrated manner as discussed in detail in Chapter IX of the TARC report. (Section XI.5.k)

uu) Enforcement should be strengthened to heighten the perception of the risk of being caught and of penalty for non-compliance being high. (Section XI.5.k)

vv) Anti-avoidance provisions should be incorporated in tax laws to be implemented with great care and sensitivity. (Section XI.5.k)

xv)    Risk analysis

ww) Given international experience, risk analysis should be made more robust and continuously improved as detailed in Chapter XII of this report. (Section XI.5.i)

xvi)  Tax amnesty

xx) Taxpayers keep waiting for amnesty schemes to be announced and take advantage of these schemes to build their capital. Amnesty schemes also cause inequity among taxpayers, and there is no proof that they improve taxpayer behaviour among evaders. They, therefore, should not be encouraged through amnesties. (Section XI.5.l)

xvii) Research and analysis

yy) There is immediate need to set up an institutional mechanism to carry out research and analysis by the two Boards in various areas of tax administration. Thus, the setting up of KAIC is the most crucial at this point in time as a combined and consolidated instrument to analyse direct and indirect taxes. (Section XI.5.m)

zz) The TARC recommends that sanitised macro data on taxpayers, returns filed, tax collected, etc., should be made available in the public domain, so that research bodies are able to analyse them and provide their findings to the tax department from time-to-time. This will help in developing research input for decision making.

xviii) Creation of tax culture and conducive environment

aaa) Generating an environment and tax organisational ethos that encourages maximum voluntary compliance is the direction in which the two Boards should move. (Section XI.5.o)

xix)   Tax Forum

bbb) A permanent body should be set to analyse procedural issues and solve them quickly, on an on-going basis. Analysis should consider administrative as well as policy obstacles. The recommendations of this permanent body on policy and administrative procedures should be sent to the Boards for consideration and comments within a specific time frame, say a maximum of 2-3 months. In case the response of the Boards is not received within the specified time frame, such recommendations may be placed directly before the Finance Minister for consideration. The operation of such a Tax Forum was extremely successful in the previous government, although it has not continued thereafter. Considering the extent of customer satisfaction it generated, it needs to be revived urgently. (Section XI.5.q).

206 Source: Standing Committee on Finance, 2012-13.

207 The Economic Times, July 4, 2013

Source- Third Report of the Tax Administration Reform Commission (TARC) (F. No. TARC/Report/36/2014-15 Dated 30.11.2014)