To bring more people in tax net I-T eyes tier-II cities

The plan is expected to be set in action by next month and is part of the governments' recent directive to CBDT to bring in at least 2.5 million new assesses under the tax ambit every month

The income tax (I-T) department has decided to focus on tier-II cities like Jaipur, Surat and Lucknow ,among others, to bring more people who reside in these cities under the tax net.

The plan is expected to be set in action by next month and is part of the governments' recent directive to Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) to bring in at least 2.5 million new assesses under the tax ambit every month.

Senior officials said, "they would unleash the power of smart-technical intelligence and business computation databases to tap potential entities and ensure the overall tax regime remains non-adversarial and non-intrusive while undertaking this task".

These strategies to "significantly expand the tax base" will be discussed by the top brass of the department and CBDT during a two-day annual conference beginning on Monday. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will inaugurate the meeting.

"A trend analysis done by CBDT and other agencies point towards the fact that tier-II cities have a very large untapped potential in terms of getting more individuals and entities to come under the tax paying bracket," the officials said. "The department has decided to undertake this task in a mission mode," a senior officer said.

CBDT Chairperson Anita Kapur wrote to field offices of the I-T department that the number of existing tax payers was low compared to the potential and the gap between the potential and, then the gap between potential and actual payers appeared wider in the case of tier-II cities and towns.