PIB | 26 Apr, 2023
Union
Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman
chaired a periodic review meeting with Central Board of Direct Taxes
(CBDT), on Wednesday in New Delhi.
The review meeting was attended by the Revenue
Secretary; Chairman, CBDT; and all the Members of CBDT.
The Finance Minister reviewed the following subjects:
- Efforts for increasing tax payer base
- Pending disciplinary proceeding cases
- Disposal of applications for condonation of delay and grant of exemptions under certain sections of the Income Tax Act, 1961
During the review meeting, the Finance Minister was apprised about the impact of the following initiatives:
-
- Introduction
of new data sources in Statement of Financial Transactions (SFT) like
Dividend and Interest; Securities; Mutual Funds and information from
GSTN in recent years has led to 1118% increase in reported information. This has resulted in addition of information of about 3 crore persons.
- Introduction
of new TDS codes, which have almost doubled from 36 to 65 in last eight
years, led to increase in total reported transaction in FY 2021-22 to
144 crore as compared to total reported transaction in FY 2015-16 of 70
crore. This has resulted in increase in number of unique
deductees — almost doubled from 4.8 crore (in F.Y. 2015-16) to 9.2 crore
(in F.Y. 2021-22).
Sitharaman was also apprised of the fact that the Personal Income Tax
(PIT) to GDP ratio has been steadily increasing from 2.11 in F.Y.
2014-15 to 2.94 in F.Y. 2021-22.
The
Finance Minister also reviewed the pending disciplinary proceeding
cases against employees/officers and observed that administrative and
procedural delays should be minimised. Smt. Sitharaman also directed
CBDT to take prompt action in finalisation of such proceedings.
The
Finance Minister emphasised that CBDT should ensure timely and
appropriate actions on all applications filed by tax payers and desired a
reasonable time frame for disposal of such applications.
The Finance
Minister exhorted CBDT to expand and strengthen its efforts to increase
tax payers’ awareness regarding the provisions of the direct tax laws
and compliance thereof.