The Central government’s faceless assessment scheme is finding itself on the wrong side of the law with unhappy assessees dragging the Income-Tax Department to the courts and multiple judicial pronouncements flaying it.
For instance, recently, the Bombay High Court issued a warning to an Assessing Officer even as it set aside the IT notice and directed the order to be circulated “right from the Revenue Secretary to everybody in the Finance Ministry”.
“If such orders are continued to be passed, this Court will be constrained to impose substantial costs on the concerned Assessing Officer to be recovered from his/her salary and also direct the department to place such judicial orders in the career records of such Assessing Officer,” said a division bench of the Bombay High Court in a matter pertaining to an assessee who was given just two days’ time to respond to a notice-cum-draft assessment order.
The assessee prayed for time and a personal hearing but was slapped with an assessment order that was an exact replica of its earlier draft, without any consideration for his two responses. The HC set aside the order, noting that it was passed without any application of mind.
The Central Government introduced the Faceless Assessment Scheme to provide greater transparency, efficiency and accountability in Income Tax assessments.
All provisions introduced under Faceless Assessment, under the Income Tax Act, 1961, are introduced to
- Eliminate the interface between the Assessing Officer and the assessee during the course of proceedings, to the extent that is technologically feasible;
- Optimise the utilisation of resources through the economies of scale and functional specialisation; and
- Introduce a team-based determination of arm’s length price with dynamic jurisdiction.
Source: thehindubusinessline.com
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