Pranab asks I-T officials to maximise tax collections

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today asked Income Tax (I-T) officials from across the country to maximise tax collections as he talked to them through video conferencing from the national capital.

Mukherjee addressed the Chief Commissioners of Income Tax (CCsIT) and other senior I-T officials in 48 cities from office of the Chairman of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) Sudhir Chandra in North Block here.

The minister also unveiled a 30-page 'Vision 2020' document of the I-T department which aims to take forward the strategic planning of the department and its policies from 2011-2015 along with the new Direct Taxes Code (DTC) which is proposed to replace the Income Tax Act from next fiscal.

In his about hour-long talks with the department officials, Mukherjee also asked the department to work towards formulating taxpayer friendly measures and conducting non-intrusive investigations to curb evasion.

The interaction of the Finance Minister with the top brass of the department, which contributes 60 per cent to the government's revenue collection kitty, comes at a time when the Finance Ministry is gearing to prepare the Union Budget for 2011-12 fiscal.

The officials of the department also put across their views and ideas to the minister and the challenges before them, sources said.

According to the 'Vision 2020' document of the department, it aims to strategise the policies of the department as "new technological development, accelerated globalisation, exchange of information between revenue authorities and the new Direct Taxes Code offer both challenges and opportunities (for the I-T department)".

The 'Vision 2020' would undergo a mid-term review in 2013.

Mukherjee also complimented the department for successfully deploying its investigation unit for the Bihar Assembly polls which concluded recently.

He was accompanied by other members of the CBDT and senior officials of Finance Ministry during the interaction.