Govt to aid wealth, job creators

Kolkata: The Modi 2.0 government will ensure that the wealth creators do not face any tax harassment and in fact it would ensure that wealth creators and job creators are actually facilitated, said Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Kolkata on Friday.

The Centre is stepping up its efforts to make the tax assessment process less tedious and more transparent, engaging with stakeholders, she said, adding, “The tax assessment process must-be forces-driven and not-discretion driven. One-on-one interactions with tax assessees can sometimes run into rough weather. Use of technology will make the assessment process a lot more transparent.”

She also clarified that any tax collection shortfall will not affect commitments made for social sector spending.

“If there are any challenges, as a result of which collections will be far lesser, we’ll look into it as and when the situation develops. But certainly it will not affect the commitments towards social sector spending made in the budget,” she said.

Talking to newspersons after meeting CBDT and CBIC officers and traders in Kolkata, the seventh such programme in a series of events across the country, the FM said that only when economic activity flourishes, tax collections will be buoyant.

Responding to queries, she said that no decision has been taken yet on how it will use the surplus transfer from the RBI. “As regards to the surlus reserves, we have not taken a call on how that is going to be used. When we take a call, we will certainly let you know,” said Sitharaman.

Mentioning about two recent policy level changes, the FM said that from October 1, any notice issued for a tax claim will be have to be issued with a document identification number. “When a notice is issued to an assessee with a claim, that notice itself will have to be issued with a document identification number. Unless there is a DIN, the assessee is well within his rights to consider the notice as not issued,” she said.

And from October 8, the Centre will bring in faceless assessment for CBDT and CBIT. It will also randomise the scrutiny process. “With faceless assessment and randomised scrutiny the probability of any irksome harassing intrusion in their activity can be cut down,” she said.

The FM said that a slew of measures are being announced to pump-prime the economy and allayed fears of investors as well as corporate, arising out of higher taxes and also tax review cases, even as she made a push to reverse the auto sector slowdown.