‘What’s in a Face?’
‘What’s in a Name?’, said Shakespeare,
‘What’s in a Face?’, CBDT Veers.
With ‘Anonymity’ as the New Norm,
Faceless Assessments have Born.
Artificial Intelligence,
Captures Transactions’ Evidence.
Machine Learning,
Digs into Assessee’s Earnings.
Between the Assessee & Assessor,
NaFAC acts as a Match-maker.
Cases are assigned through automatic allocation,
Assessments are now agnostic location.
AOs have been Replaced with Dynamic Jurisdiction,
Assessments are now Expected to have more Conviction.
Thing of the Past is now Physical Appearance,
What will now Count is Assessee’s Perseverance.
Notices are sent through e-Filing Portal,
Assessees need to e-file their replies, full Throttle.
Written Submissions have Replaced Verbal Pleadings,
All e-Filings to be done only through e-Proceedings.
Increasing the per-attachment uploading size from 5 Megabytes,
May act as Shining Armour in the Knight.
All Communications are to be in Electronic Mode,
Income Tax Offices, have become the Less Travelled Road.
Faceless Assessments do avoid ‘Conveyance-kharcha’,
Though Miss out on that ‘Chai pe Charcha’.
High Courts set-aside Faceless Assessment Orders bringing Injustice,
And Mandate Adoption of Principle of Natural Justice.
With Personal Hearing through Video Conference,
Principle of Natural Justice gets the much-needed Credence.
Faceless Assessments strengthen, with VCs being Embodied,
Though Omission of Section 144B(9) could have been Avoided.
Assessment Units to prepare Income or Loss Determination Proposal,
Before giving Assessment Order, the Final Disposal.
Getting Acknowledgements of Filed Submissions is No More Difficult,
As Acknowledgements are Automatically Generated with Hash Result.
Technology gives Faceless Assessments, an Amazing Facelift,
Tax Administration undergoes a Paradigm Shift.
Lets’ Accept & Embrace them, without any Dismay,
As Faceless Assessments are here to Stay.
Time for Some Lighter Moments
Friends, very recently, the Hon’ble Delhi High Court, in the case of ‘Bharat Aluminium Company Ltd vs. Union of India [2022] 134 taxmann.com 187 (Delhi), dated 14.1.2022, on the specific concern, put forth by the departmental representative, that grant of personal hearing through video conferencing to the assessee, would frustrate and defeat the concept of faceless assessments, has suggested quite interesting solutions and has observed,
“that the identity of the assessing officer can be hidden/protected while granting personal hearing by either creating a blank screen or by decreasing the pixel/density/resolution.”
Well Friends, kudos to the innovative and creating thought process of the hon’ble Delhi High Court.
There may be other effective ways also, for hiding the identity of the assessing or appellate authority in faceless regime. The cartoon below practically demonstrates once such smart way of granting the opportunity of personal hearing through video conferencing to the assessee and still remaining faceless during the course of faceless assessment/appeal/penalty proceedings.
Source: Concept Conceived by Mayank Mohanka
Well, the cartoon may suggest anything on a lighter side, but this path breaking and pioneering reform of faceless adjudication regime, is indeed a game changer for overhauling the entire tax administration system.
Though for the taxpayers and tax practitioners, this will result in missing out on that odd cup of Tea (Chai pe Charcha) with the assessing and appellate authorities, but as long as that odd cup of Tea is being substituted by a far more rewarding and satisfying ‘TEA’ of Transparency, Efficiency & Accountability, no one is complaining.
Useful Reference: For having insights into the threadbare detailed analysis on all important and crucial litigative issues, in the faceless regime in Income Tax, a reference to the thoroughly re-written and curated fifth edition of the Book titled, “Faceless Assessment Appeals & Penalty Ready Reckoner with Real Time Case Studies, authored by the author of this Article, Shri Mayank Mohanka, FCA, is desirable and useful.
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