Union Cabinet likely to approve IT dept revamp plan tomorrow

Union Cabinet is likely to approve the restructuring of income tax department at its meeting scheduled tomorrow which will entail recruitment of around 19,000 tax official across the country in next two years.

"The proposal to restructure the income tax department would be placed before the Union Cabinet in its meeting tomorrow for consideration and approval," a source said.

He further said that the proposal includes recruitment of 19,000 tax officials to be deputed across the country in a span of two years.

According to the information available, the restructuring of income tax (IT) department has recently been approved by a group of ministers comprising Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, Environment and Forests Minister Jayanthi Natarajan and Minister of Personnel V Narayanasamy.

The ministerial panel had reportedly, also decided to extend the rank and pay of special secretaries to chief commissioners of bigger IT zones and to heads of various directorates under the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT).

Under the IT department restricting plan, around 800 officials would be recruited through Indian Revenue Service (Group A) route and around 18,000 will be inducted as Group B and Group C officials.

The GoM was of the view that the revamp plan would result in quicker tax refunds and detection of high net worth individuals who escape the tax net.

The government plans to collect over Rs 6.68 lakh crore from direct taxes in the current fiscal, up from Rs 5.65 lakh crore in the previous fiscal.