400,000 taxpayers to face scrutiny under new e-assessment system

The income-tax (I-T) department has identified about 400,000 taxpayers who will face scrutiny under the new faceless assessment scheme. Notices were being served to a little over 100,000 assesses, seeking explanation on the returns filed within 15 days, said an official privy to the development. However, about 10,000 such letters were undelivered and, in some cases, bounced back. The deadline of sending scrutiny letters ends on September 30.

The tax department is learnt to have finalised computer-assisted scrutiny selection (CASS) cycle for the current year and has selected about 100 parameters to scrutinise returns under the new system. Sources said some of the parameters, based on which notices were served, included undisclosed foreign income and immovable properties, high-value transactions, misreporting of long-term capital gains, TDS claimed not matching with the tax forms, non-disclosure of investments made in the name of spouse, relatives, filing defective return, tax evasion in earlier years, and so on. 

According to the action plan, the e-assessment may not be fully faceless initially, as the jurisdiction assessing officer would be knowing the profile of the assessee and can also view it at the time of serving notices. 

“For CASS 2019, the notices shall be generated and issued in a centralised manner by the prescribed tax authority, for cases selected for scrutiny. After the issuance of notices, further assessment proceedings shall be conducted by the jurisdictional assessing officer in a regular manner through Income-tax Business Application (ITBA),” according to the assessment module prepared by the I-T department. 

A jurisdictional assessing officer can access the ITBA portal containing profiles of assesses including PAN, ITR, TDS details, and details of order and so on.

An assessing officer is also required to verify the notices issued and whether it has been successfully delivered. In cases where the notices bounced, the officer will take a print out and send out a physical copy to the assesse concerned. 

Besides, if the returns are received by assessing officer who is not the jurisdictional AO, then the assesse permanent account number will be immediately transferred to the jurisdictional AO.