Amid fears of slowdown in tax collection in the current fiscal, the Finance Ministry today indicated that it may go slow on disbursement of pending income tax refunds. The indication was given by Revenue Secretary Sunil Mitra at the annual conference of chief commissioners and directors general of income tax here.
“The Board’s (CBDT) proposal to clear all pending refunds of the assessment years 2010-11 and 2011-12 will require to be moderated in keeping with the actual performance in direct tax collections,” he said.
The revenue department is apprehending a slowdown in revenue collection on the back of rising inflation and moderation in domestic economic growth, which according to the RBI is likely to come down to 8% from 8.6% in 2010-11.
“The Assessee whose refund are due to be received are at the mercy of the tax collections by the revenue for the fiscal irrespective of the honesty/integrity of the tax payer.” – the actual meaning of the statement of the Revenue Secretary.
IT department is deliberately delaying big refunds and issuing small refunds. If Govt. punishes honest tax payer like this, i am afraid even honest tax payers will start finding ways to evade tax.
Righlty said. By saying this the ministry is itself passing message to people down the ladder in delaying refunds even to honest tax payers.
Finance ministry must be given a Bharat Ratna!!. There s a slow-down in tax collection,and so tax refunds should be delayed !!! If this is the kind of thoughtless message that is dashed across by a high ranking Revenue Secretary, what motivation can people down the ladder have in trying to bring in innovative measures which are friendly to the honest tax payers ? It is high time that Govt. servants at secretary level start thinking out of the box and get out of the same stinking routinest of routine methods of problem-solving.
Finance ministry must be given a Bharat Ratna!!. There s a slow-down in tax collection,and so tax refunds should be delayed !!! If this is the kind of thoughtless message that is dashed across by a high ranking Revenue Secretary, what motivation can people down the ladder have in trying to bring in innovative measures which are friendly to the honest tax payers ? It is high time that Govt. servants at secretary level start thinking out of the box and get out of the same stinking routinest of routine methods of problem-solving.