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PM concerned over rising complaints against tax dept

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Wants CBDT To Find Out If Small Traders Are Unhappy

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday ticked off the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), pointing out that the number of taxpayer complaints have gone up and wanted the agency to find out who was unhappy with its service.

During his monthly Pragati meeting with secretaries at the Centre and state chief secretaries, he also asked the direct taxes wing of the government to ready a roadmap to address complaints, which has been a key thrust of the Modi administration since it came to power nearly twoand-a-half years ago.

Sources said the PM asked the department to examine if the number of complaints have increased due to more people coming forward to register grievances or if small shopkeepers and businessmen were unhappy . CBDT has also been asked to probe if the re are more complaints from a region and what is the “exact cause“ for rising grievances.

This is the second time since revenue service officials protested against “interference“ by the finance ministry that the PM has pointed to the need for improvement in tax department's functioning. In his Independence Day address too Modi had flagged the concern and promised to address it. During an earlier interaction, the PM was critical of the Central Board of Excise and Customs and had advised all departments to crack down on errant officers, resulting in the services of some officers being terminated.

On its part, the tax department has sought to revamp its functioning, including reworking the language of the notices and reminders as well as greater use of technology to address tax payer concerns.

During the meeting on Wednesday , a presentation mentioned that there were over one lakh complaints from tax payers during 201516. Last year, CBDT claimed, over 90% of the complaints had been resolved, compared to around 67% during 2014-15.

But PM seemed to be un happy with the increasing number of complaints, said sources familiar with the deliberations. Modi pointed out that the CBDT had not undertaken a thorough analysis of the complaints, something that chairman Rani Singh Nair promised to address.

The tax department has been asked to increase awareness and use the social media to address grievances. 

The Times of India, New Delhi, 29 September 2016

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