Section 119A was introduced by Finance Act 2020 which is reproduced below –
[Taxpayer’s Charter.
119A. The Board shall adopt and declare a Taxpayer’s Charter and issue such orders, instructions, directions or guidelines to other income-tax authorities as it may deem fit for the administration of such Charter.]
The intention behind introducing the same was detailed out by Hon’ble Finance Minister while delivering her budget speech on 2nd February 2020 in following paras –
“81. Hon’ble Speaker, Sir, all the while I have explained the colour and composition of the bouquet of flowers – schemes and programmes. They were grouped under spirational India, Economic Development and Caring India. Now I speak about the two hands that will hold them. One such hand is Governance – clean, corruption-free, policy driven and good in intent and most importantly trusting in faith. Trusting every citizen, the aspirational youth, the hard-working women, the risk-taking entrepreneur, the ever hopeful and untiring farmer or the wise and old senior citizen. Many among them are taxpayers. Others may not be taxpayers today. Our Prime Minister has laid before us Ease of Living as a goal to be achieved on behalf of all citizens. An important aspect of both ease of living and ease of doing business is fairness and efficiency of tax administration. We wish to enshrine in the statutes a “taxpayer charter” through this budget. Our government would like to reassure taxpayers that we remain committed to taking measures so that our citizens are free from harassment of any kind.
“128. Taxpayer’s Charter
Any tax system requires trust between taxpayers and the administration. This will be possible only when taxpayer’s rights are clearly enumerated. Towards this end, and with the objective of enhancing the efficiency of the delivery system of the Income Tax Department, I propose to amend the provisions of the Income Tax Act to mandate the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) to adopt a Taxpayers’ Charter. The details of the contents of the charter shall be notified soon.”
However as of today what we find is that nothing further has been done by the Government on this front till today even after two and half years and two more budgets.
On the contrary on a serious note it will be worthwhile to note that in total contradiction to the intent and purpose of this very section 119A, a very small but very significant change was introduced by the Finance Act 2022, which was made effective from 01.04.2022 , let us have a look at the same –
Section 144B was introduced by the Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act, 2020, w.e.f. 1-4-2021, which was basically meant to define the provisions of much advertised Faceless Assessment Scheme.
This section 114B which originally ran into 10 subsections contained a very important subsection numbered subsection 9 which read as follows
(9) Notwithstanding anything contained in any other provision of this Act, assessment made under sub-section (3) of section 143 or under section 144 in the cases referred to in sub-section (2) [other than the cases transferred under sub-section (8)], on or after the 1st day of April, 2021, shall be non est if such assessment is not made in accordance with the procedure laid down under this section.”
As can be seen and understood from a plain reading of the same, it said that if during the course of faceless assessment proceedings, if it is found later that proper procedure laid down in this very section 144B is not followed then the in that case such assessment shall be NON EST thereby meaning that such an assesment proceeding will be treated as never to have taken place.
Surprisingly within a short time an assessment order was challenged by invoking this very section 144B(9) in Hon’ble Bombay High Court in case of Mantra Industries Ltd vs NFAC – 131 Taxmann.com 165, where Hon’ble Court observed while setting aside the order of assessment –
“Where revenue passed assessment order which was an exact reproduction of draft assessment order without considering replies filed by petitioner and petitioner’s request for personal hearing, impugned order being non-est was to be set aside as same was not made in accordance with procedure laid down under section 144B(9)
The Court further directs circulation of order to every member of the Finance Ministry and if such orders are continued to be passed, Court will be constrained to impose substantial costs on concerned Assessing Officer to be recovered from his/her salary and also direct department to place such judicial orders in career records of such Assessing Officer”
This judgement was delivered on 11th October 2021. And there have been other such decisions delivered by other High Courts too on the same point to the same effect.
Hon’ble Finance Ministry was fast enough to grasp gravity of this situation and therefore quietly went on to replace this whole section 144B with a new section 144B vide Finance Act 2022, & took care to omit this subsection 144(B)(9) from the same & moreover the change was made effective from 1st April 2021, which is the date of introduction of the original section itself
The memorandum published with the budget only mentioned that certain difficulties were faced in implementation of the Faceless Assessment Scheme & therefore the replacement / change in section 144B was necessary
Now the moot question is has the Government forgotten the objects and purpose for which this section 119A was introduced in the first place?
Moreover we have not heard anything more on the same either from the Government or from the various stake holders including various Professional Bodies
Is somebody listening / reading / taking note of this?
Author Bio
Living in a village, now I find that ease of living is difficult indeed. Even a small road side shop vending vada requires FAASI Registration and a GST exemption; anyone selling anything needs an advocate, an Auditor, a Document writer etc.. I feel that the Government kept its promise of creating jobs.
Leave alone the harassment aspect. The poor villagers take it in the stride.
They say payment to officials is regulated as twice the Licence Fee