One million file tax returns under special drive by I-T dept

The drive, called Non-filers Management System', was to identify individuals who had not filed their returns

Around one million taxpayers have filed their I-T returns for Assessment Year 2014-15 after the department tracked them under a special drive to identify those who have not filed their returns despite having an obligation to do so, according to official data.

While the amount of revenue received by the tax department under this drive has not been quantified, the data said the Income Tax department identified a total of 5.89 million such taxpayers out of which 1.12 million filed their returns for the said time period.

The drive to identify these individuals and entities was conducted under a special initiative of the department called the ‘Non-filers Management System’ which uses technology Intelligence tools to track erring taxpayers who either forget or just skip filing their returns.

The data said the drive was conducted for the AY 2014-15 and over one million new taxpayers will act to bolster its another drive to bring more and more people with good income to the tax net by the end of this financial year in March end.

Officials involved in the drive said lakhs of emails and SMSes were sent to those taxpayers who were registered with the e-filing portal of the department while efforts are being made to reach others too. The cases of the 1.17 million lakh taxpayers who filed returns for AY 2014-15 have been closed and their information has been sent to regional IT officials and Assessing Officers so that they can keep a track of their records in the future, they said.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has asked the department’s Bengaluru’s CPC to issue ex-parte refunds by making required adjustments, within 30 days, in case either the taxpayer or the Assessing Officer do not make the required initiative.

This means, an official said, if the AO fails to make appropriate changes as per the objection raised by taxpayer or the taxpayer does not respond to taxman’s communication on the refunds front, the Central Processing Centre (CPC) will be issuing refunds by making any possible adjustments, as allowed under the IT Act, in the refunds and generate them independently.

The CBDT has recently asked IT department to expedite refunds of small families, specifically below Rs 5,000, and address this issue on priority as this area is one of the largest subject of grievance for taxpayers with even Prime Minister Narendra Modi ticking off the department sometime back to fasten the process of refunds.