ITR filing - faceless penalty scheme: How this new feature helps taxpayers - latest news

ITR filing - Faceless assessment taxpayer charter: In a move aimed at encouraging people to pay tax voluntarily and provide them a friendly atmosphere, the Ministry of Finance has come up with faceless assessment feature. The government notified the 'faceless penalty scheme' (FPS) last week. Under this assessment, the ministry has tried to do away with the physical visiting of the income tax office and thus offering transparency and compliance. It implies that if you get a notice for additional review of your income tax return, you will now need not have to rush to the income tax offices. Instead, now you just have to fill up a form that you get in your email, attach supporting documents and send it back to the department. 

It has major benefits for taxpayers. It is seen as one of the major reforms taken by the ministry of finance to control corruption, intimidation and making this who system more transparent.  

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Informing about faceless assessment, the Ministry of Finance took to Twitter and posted, " Re-strengthening economy through reforms: Assessment procedure made fair, transparent, easy to comply with & free from potential bias. No more physical interface & visits to the tax office. Reply electronically. Review before final order. In order to impart greater efficiency, transparency and accountability to the assessment process, a new faceless scheme has already been introduced." The ministry also counted its advantages in a graphical representation. 

Let us look at how the new income tax returns faceless scheme will help tax payers of the country and what the government aim with this 'taxpayer charter'.
* Provide fair, courteous and reasonable treatment
* Trat tax payers as honest
* Provide mechanism for review and appeal
* Provide complete and accurate information
* Provide timely decisions
* Collect the correct amount of tax
* Respect privacy of taxpayer
* Maintain confidentiality
*Hold its authorities accountable
* Enable representative of choice
* Provide mechanism to lodge complaint
* Provide a fair and just system
* Publish service standards and reports periodically
* Reduce cost of compliance

Talking about the new schemes for ITR filing, Finance Ministry said, "It is proposed to enshrine in the statutes a 'taxpayer charter' through this budget and reassure taxpayers that government is committed to taking such measures that citizens are free rom harassment of any kind."