Bad elements in tax dept to be dealt with: Revenue secy

Promising just and fair decision in all tax matters, the new Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia today said "bad elements" in the tax department will be identified and "taken care of" so that they don't spoil the investment climate.
He rejected the notion of "tax terror" being prevalent in the country and said he wanted to end "malpractices" so as to improve tax administration.
"I don't think there is any tax terror kind of a thing. Every department will have a good and bad elements. It's not that I'm saying only in the tax department... We will be just and fair in all tax related decisions," he told reporters on his first day in office as Revenue Secretary.

Listing his priorities, Adhia, who till yesterday headed the Department of Financial Services, said transparency in the tax department through the use of technology as well as simplification of rules and procedures were top on his list.
"This would also mean that we would like to also identify certain bad elements in the department because of whom the department has got a bad name and we would like to sort of take care of those elements so that they do not any more spoil" the business environment, he said.
There are many many good officers who ensure that the department runs properly, he said, adding that "there are also some others who may not be as cooperative. So we need to distinguish between the good and the bad ones in the department".

He sought suggestions on taxation reforms as well as on simplification of the procedure and said anyone could write to him on his personal email.

"I can assure everybody that even the whistle-blowers can feel free to write to me. Nobody else can open it. Only I open those emails.
"So people can be assumed that the information will be very very confidential and I'd like people to give me those kind of information about various malpractices going on or even the suggestions which can bring improvement in tax administration. Through this, we can improve our tax administration to a better position," he said.

Adhia said top attention would be given to creating transparency in the tax department through the use of information technology.
"We need to bring in information technology in a big way in the administration of the taxes," he said adding that he has heard of laws as also rules and notifications being complicated.
Simplification of rules and procedures and transparency through use of technology will be the topmost item of my attention in the next few months, he said.
Also on his radar is reviewing the status of GST readiness of the Union government and state government. The government intends to roll out GST from April 1 next year.

"Whenever the Constitution amendment bill is passed, whenever the GST central act is passed, we should be ready with the preparedness part of it," he said adding he would go from state to state to see if they are ready for the implementation.