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Pay income tax over Rs.1 lakh to win certificates from govt

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The honest and diligent taxpayer must be appreciated and encouraged — this is the new mantra of the NDA government. And the Central Board of Direct Tax (CDBT), has been entrusted the job of sending out certificates of honour to individuals who pay above Rs.1 lakh income tax.
CBDT has already mailed over 800,000 such certificates since the initiative was launched less than two weeks ago. An official source said that the department has been asked to undertake the exercise on priority. So many more such certificates will be sent out in the coming days.
According to government data, only 1 million taxpayers declare incomes over Rs.10 lakh, below which the tax rate is 20%. This is only 2% of the total taxpayers in the country.
This will be an annual affair. “The tax department is not there to harass the citizens..while it is firm, it is not going to take any step to harass citizens,” Hasmukh Adhia, revenue secretary told HT. “We want tax payers to be made part of the nation building process...all tax payers should feel proud,” Adhia said.
Sources in the department who did not wish to be named said this is part of the government’s taxpayer engagement initiative.
Adhia added that the department’s working on building a friendly-image and will not be vindictive towards anybody.
Tax officials have been asked to be firm but “not to harass those who have not availed the four month Income Disclosure Scheme— providing an opportunity to all those with unaccounted wealth to come out clean. The recently concluded scheme is set to fetch over ?30,000 crore in taxes from a total disclosure of ?65,250 crore of unaccounted wealth in the form of cash and other assets.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had recently asked tax officials to remove the fear of harassment from the minds of taxpayers in the country and work towards bridging the “trust deficit”.
The message is clear: While no taxpayer will be allowed to hoard unaccounted cash and assets, the department will also develop a soft and friendly image.
Business Standard New Delhi,06th October 2016

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