To speed up clearances of tax exemption cases, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) will set up 11 more specialised offices in the country.
“CBDT plans to have directorate [exemptions] in all the states and to begin with we will be setting up 10-11 new directorates,” a revenue official said.
However, the official did not specify any timeframe for creation of the specialised offices (directorates).
Exemptions are given under the Income Tax Act, 1961, to encourage and fulfill certain social objectives relating to areas such as sports, charity, religion and education.
The exemption wing of the Income Tax Department, headed by Director General of Income Tax (Exemptions), currently has seven directorates — Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai.
When the new directorates are operationalised, the number will increase to 18.
The government also allows tax exemptions to various organisations engaged in activities like charity, religious activities and scientific research-related.
Early this year, the board had set up a committee to suggest ways to further strengthen the administrative process in relation with exempt entities.
The committee is likely to submit its report early next month, the official said.
PTI
Going by the corruption-infested record of the department and this Exemption unit in particular, this will only enable a larger no. of officers and staff to make more money as the current rate for obtaining 80-G/12AA registration even under the nose of DG Exemption is Rs. 50000 to 5,00,000 depending upon the situation. Without paying money, there is no possibility of obtaining any order from the Directors anywhere. If any agency takes up inspection and scrutiny of the rejected applications which ate 75% in cases of small institutions, the intentional harassment and motivated rejections will be clear. A very great site doing research on Netaji failed to obtain exemption. A small charitable organization in Delhi running among other things a school for the poorest of the poor tried for four years with money to ultimately obtain the approval. Patronage of corruption and connivance with the corrupt—at high levels—remaining and flourishing, no use for the social benefit to increase the units for looting.