 "Tax panel recommendations likely to be adopted in coming months")
The revenue department is likely to adopt key recommendations of the tax administrative reforms commission (TARC) in the coming months.
"The first and second report have already been examined and recommendations for implementation have been identified. While the examination of third and fourth report, which were recently submitted, is in the advanced stage of examination," said a government official.
As per sources, the government is likely to notify them within the next four-five months.
A statement in this regard was also made by the revenue secretary Shaktikanta Das before a parliamentary standing committee on tax.
"The government is likely to notify norms from TARC shortly," said Das.
This would in line with the recommendations of the standing committee, which has recommended implementation within three months.
The committee has, however, warned the department that the recommendations should be implemented in holistic manner and not the piece meal manner in which Direct Tax Code has been implemented.
According to the people familiar with the developments, the department is unlikely to merge the direct and the indirect tax department.
The TARC report submitted by Parthasarthi Shome had recommended that the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and central board of excise and customs (CBEC) should me merged together under one chairman and select members.
While notifying the norms, the revenue department will first focus on reforms to improve the working of ground officers.
"The department seems to be stuck in the cycle of achieving targets and then granting refunds to the assesses at a later stage with interest. This practice is hurting the revenues of the government and is also detrimental to image of the department. The implementation of the recommendations is likely to change that," said a government official.