One Lakh Income Tax Notices To Be Resolved By March 2024, Says Finance Minister
Only cases which are as old as six years or less can be reopened and must involve a threshold of escaped income above Rs 50 lakh.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that around one lakh income tax notices sent to taxpayers in fiscal 2023 are expected to be resolved by the Central Board of Direct Taxes by March 2024.
Sitharaman highlighted the department's speedy resolution of back-dated cases that were reopened for further scrutiny.
"There is also a need for me to say about a particular instance where cases were reopened due to the decision of the Supreme Court, in the particular case referring to Ashish Agarwal..." Sitharaman said while speaking at the 164th Income Tax Day celebrations on Monday.
"About 55,000 such cases were opened up as a result of that decision. These have been completed by May 2023 this year. So, the board (CBDT) today is not sitting over notices which have been issued..."
According to her, the reopening of cases happens only when:
Non-filers have been identified by the department.
Filers have been noted with evidence of understatement of income.
Section 147 of the Income Tax Act of 1961 provides for the reopening of assessment proceedings. It gives discretion to the assessing officer to reopen the assessment proceedings when he/she has reason to believe that some of the income has escaped assessment.
Under the existing provisions, only cases that are as old as six years or less can be reopened and must involve a threshold of escaped income above Rs 50 lakh, the Finance Minister said.
According to Nitin Gupta, chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes, cases in specific situations where notices have been sent are usually required to be cleared within one year's time.
Reopening of particular cases that match risk parameters and further qualify for reassessment happens on a rolling basis and is likely to be an annual exercise, Gupta said on the sidelines of the Income Tax Day celebrations.
In the current tax filing season, Gupta said that over 4.2 crore returns had been filed by July 23, of which 2.21 crore returns had been processed and 80 lakh refunds had been issued.
The figures are dynamic and subject to change as the last day for filing is July 31, he said.
Last year, the department recorded 5.8 crore in tax filings as of July 31, 2022.
The chairman said that the department aims to process all refunds by early August. "We want to complete processing as early as possible ... early next month," he said.
Of the approximately 4.2 crore tax filers as of July 23, 7% are first-time filers, the chairman said.
The 164th Income Tax Day celebrations in New Delhi were also attended by Union Minister of State (Finance) Pankaj Choudhury and Revenue Secretary Sanjay Malhotra, among other officers and officials of the department.
