I-T department faces manpower crunch

The Department of Income Tax (I-T), Government of India has projected to collect a revenue of Rs 530,000 crore as the direct tax collections in the financial year 2011-12. The projections for the year 2010-11 were Rs 430,000 crore and the actual collections were Rs 446,000 crore.

The department has revised the projections for the year 2011-12 despite the shortage of manpower. According to the Chairman of Central Board of Direct Taxes, Sudhir Chandra the department is short of hands and needs an additional workforce of at least 22,000 to carry out the smooth operations.

Talking to media on the sidelines of the inauguration of the new building of the department in Chandigarh today, Chandra said that the department got a tremendous response on the e-filing of income tax returns. He informed that out of 31.6 million returns filed last year, 9.7 million were filed electronically. He added that 70 per cent of the e-filed returns were in voluntary category.

He apprised that the department collected black money worth Rs 30,000 crore in the last two years. The major sectors tapped in this field were mining, real-estate and manufacturing.

The department issued 8.5 million refunds of Rs 74,000 crore in 2010-11.

The information technology has helped in tracking the income tax evaders as the profiles of tax payers available on internet help to assess the tax evaders, he added.