Ombudsman has limited role for online taxpayers

At a time when the Central Board of Direct Taxes is asking taxpayers to use online platform to file returns, there is a problem that might haunt the assessees.

"The data in the online system directly goes to the Central Processing Centre in Bangalore and the entire work is to done by them. Hence, say there is any delay in refund the local IT officer has nothing to do and for the ombudsman it is an issue of jurisdiction," Income Tax Ombudsman (East) Manoj Mishra told PTI.

"It is a grey area of jurisdiction as of now for the ombudsman on tax returns filed on the online system and there is a need for solution," he said.
    
There are a total 12 ombudsmen in the country and every officer had been given a fixed jurisdiction of geographical area to operate.
    
However, Mishra clarified that the matter was an administrative issue and had nothing to do with the benefit from the centralised online system that the department and taxpayer may get out of it.
    
CBDT chairman Sudhir Chandra had said last week that online filings makes return and refund tracking easy for senior officials to intervene in case of any delay.
    
There are around 35 million tax payers but online filing of returns are yet to pick momentum.