Latest news with #I-TAct
Time of India
a day ago
- Business
- Time of India
'I-T dept ensures strict confidentiality of data'
CBDT chairman Ravi Agrawal The income tax department adheres to strict confidentiality of taxpayer data, says CBDT chairman Ravi Agrawal and asserts that stringent internal controls are in place to uphold confidentiality and integrity. In an interview to TOI, Agrawal says the powers to access digital devices during search and survey operations are merely being updated in the new I-T Bill to reflect the digital age. Excerpts: How will the new I-T Act help the common taxpayer? The provisions of law will become far more simpler for any taxpayer to read and understand. The dependence on a professional to understand the law is expected to see some correction. The use of formulae, tables and consolidation of provisions will enable easier compliance for taxpayers and professionals. The tax department has access to enormous amounts of data and the bill provides power to the department to access social media accounts for investigation purposes. How will the department ensure privacy of data? The I-T Bill, 2025 only re-states and makes explicit the powers already implicit in the Income-Tax Act 1961 under section 132. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like 15 most beautiful women in the world Undo It is important to understand that these provisions are strictly applicable only during search and survey operations. They are not meant to breach the online privacy of common taxpayers, even if their case is under scrutiny. The powers to access digital devices and information during search and survey operations have always existed and are merely being updated to reflect the digital age. Clause 247 of the bill, which allows overriding access codes, is a modernisation of these existing provisions. With financial activities increasingly moving online, including digital banking, cryptocurrency, and cloud storage, these powers are intended to combat sophisticated methods of tax evasion that utilise internet-based tools and technology. Regarding data security, CBDT is acutely aware of the sensitivity of the financial data it handles. Our data collection and analysis are strictly for the purpose of tax administration and are governed by the provisions of I-T Act, 1961. Stringent internal controls have been instituted to uphold confidentiality and integrity, with access to taxpayer data strictly controlled and monitored. The principle of "need-to-know" is followed. The faceless nature of core procedures such as assessments and appeals introduces a layer of anonymity by design. Cases are randomly allocated through an automated system, ensuring neither the taxpayer nor the assessing officer knows each other's identity. This reinforces a neutral, fair, and objective approach, minimising the risk of selective targeting. Risk assessment uses identity-blind, rule-based algorithms. The focus of the department now is building taxpayer trust but how will the new powers impact this? I-T Bill, 2025 provides for no new or additional powers. The department will continue to work on a "Trust First and Scrutinise Later" philosophy, recognising that most taxpayers are honest. The department prefers the "nudge" approach for minor discrepancies, while intrusive steps are for cases with credible intelligence or significant evidence of large-scale tax evasion, concealment of income, or involvement in illicit activities. The goal is to create a deterrent effect for willful defaulters while fostering a climate of trust for the honest taxpayer. By clearly defining the scope of these powers to serious evasion cases, the department aims to assure honest taxpayers that they will not be arbitrarily targeted. How would you assure the taxpayers on this? There is no question of any general surveillance of common taxpayers or their social media accounts. The fundamental approach remains "Trust First," with intrusive actions being a last resort only for proven, large-scale evasion cases, not for honest taxpayers. Even when an algorithm flags a case for scrutiny, subsequent proceedings involve human application of mind and a review mechanism to ensure fairness. Taxpayers also retain the right to appeal any order they believe is incorrect. What has been the role of technology in stepping up refunds? End-to-end automation of ITR processing, including real-time challan validation and automated refund processing, has been implemented. Bank account validation ensures seamless refund disbursal. The average refund processing time has reduced from 93 days in FY 2013-14 to 17 days in 2024-25. Faster refund processing has significantly improved the taxpayer experience and confidence in the system. How is the department using AI, ML and blockchain technology to maximise revenues and plug loopholes? The use of AI within the I-T department is limited now. Going forward, AI will play a critical role in detecting and curbing shell companies, black money, and benami transactions. The upcoming projects of the department such as Insight 2.0 aims at wider use of AI. For example, AI will be used in various areas such as fraud and anomaly detection, pattern recognition, trend identification, predictive modelling, processing of unstructured data. Stay informed with the latest business news, updates on bank holidays and public holidays . AI Masterclass for Students. Upskill Young Ones Today!– Join Now
Time of India
2 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
I-T tribunal rejects Cong plea for tax exemption on ₹199cr income
NEW DELHI: The Income Tax Appellate Tribunal Tuesday rejected an appeal from Congress against the I-T department for withdrawing a tax exemption to the party for the assessment year 2018-19 and adding Rs 199 crore as its income through donations. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now The tribunal, headed by judicial member Satbeer Singh Godara and comprising M Balaganesh, declined to interfere with the department's assessment order against Congress. The I-T order rejected Congress's tax exemption for not filing returns for AY 2018-19 by the due date, and thus, added the income of Rs 199 crore to the party, on which it will be liable to pay tax. The appellate tribunal also refused to allow Congress to net its income against the expenditure on the grounds that it had violated section 13(A) of the I-T Act. The order also found violations of receiving cash donations of more than Rs 14 lakh, which were over Rs 2,000 each. Election Commission guidelines mandate that any donation above Rs 2,000 has to be through bank transfer. Congress's appeal was first rejected by the Commissioner of I-T (Appeal) after which the party approached the tribunal in March 2023. "Whether the assessee's impugned section 13A exemption claim violates clauses (b) and (d) of the first proviso thereto is concerned, we have already held that its return filed on Feb 2, 2019, was a time barred one, and the same stands academic and rejected accordingly," the bench observed. On the question of "netting" basis - claiming corresponding expenditure against receipts - the tribunal noted that the "High Court's decision has concluded the very issue in the department's favour - the legal position is that no deduction can be allowed with respect to the expenditure incurred by the political party for any purpose whatsoever if it fails to comply with the basic requirements of the Act's section 13A. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now " "We thus conclude that given the fact the assessee has been held to have violated section 13A, third proviso in not filing its return within the prescribed due date, its impugned netting claim also deserves to be declined in very terms," the tribunal said dismissing Congress' appeal.
Time of India
2 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
Now, Bhumre's driver gets summoned by income tax department
Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: Jawed Shaikh, who is employed as a driver with Shiv Sena MP Sandipan Bhumre and his MLA son Vilas, was summoned by the . The department requested his presence along with his books of accounts and documents. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Jawed Shaikh is already being investigated by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) about why Mir Mehmood Ali Khan, a descendant of Salar Jung, gifted the driver prime land worth hundreds of crores. On July 3, Shaikh received a fresh summons under section 131(1A) of the Income Tax Act 1961, requesting his attendance in connection with proceedings under the Act in his case. Section 131(1A) grants the I-T department the authority to enforce an individual's attendance, discover and inspect any property, and issue commissions. It also allows the department to examine the assessee on oath and compel the production of necessary books of accounts and all relevant documents. The I-T department warned in its notice that any default by Jawed Shaikh would attract action under section 272A(1)(C) of the I-T Act, empowering the investigation officer to impose a penalty of Rs 10,000 for each default. Jawed Shaikh, a trusted aide of the Bhumres, became the focus of the investigation after Mir Mehmood Ali Khan gifted him prime plots valued at hundreds of crores. There are allegations that Jawed received approximately 8.5 acres in two instalments through hibanama (gift deed). The combined market valuation of these plots is about Rs 500 crores. Documents revealed that both transactions had common witnesses, and the bonds were purchased from the same notary lawyer. Applications to add Jawed Shaikh's name to the PR card for both properties were made on Feb 9, 2023, and his name was recorded on the PR card on May 25, 2023, and June 28, 2024, respectively. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now These prime plots are located in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar city, where the economic offences wing of the city police is already investigating a related complaint. In the past few weeks, the EOW has recorded statements from Khan, four of his children, and Jawed Shaik. Unsatisfied with their responses, the EOW plans to summon them again to cooperate in the inquiry. Phone calls and messages sent to Jawed for his comments did not elicit any response.
The Print
4 days ago
- Business
- The Print
Par panel report on new Income Tax Bill, 2025 to be tabled in Lok Sabha on Monday
The Committee has made 285 suggestions and at its meeting on July 16 adopted the report on new I-T Bill, 2025, which will now be tabled in the House for further action. The 31-member Select Committee, chaired by BJP leader Baijayant Panda, was appointed by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to scrutinise The new Income Tax Bill, 2025, which was introduced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on February 13 in the Lok Sabha. New Delhi, Jul 20 (PTI) A report of the parliamentary committee set up to scrutinise the new Income Tax Bill, 2025, which would replace the six-decade old Income Tax Act, is scheduled to be tabled in the Lok Sabha on Monday. The simplified Income Tax Bill, which is half the size of the 1961 Income Tax Act, seeks to achieve tax certainty by minimising the scope of litigation and fresh interpretation. The new bill, introduced in the Lok Sabha, has a word count of 2.6 lakh, lower than 5.12 lakh in the I-T Act. The number of sections is 536, as against 819 effective sections in the existing law. The number of chapters has also been halved to 23 from 47, according to the FAQs (frequently asked questions) issued by the I-T department. The Income Tax Bill 2025 has 57 tables, compared to 18 in the existing Act and removed 1,200 provisos and 900 explanations. Provisions relating to exemptions and TDS/TCS have been made crispier in the Bill by putting them in a tabular format, while the chapter for not-for-profit organisations has been made comprehensive with use of plain language. As a result of this, the word count has come down by 34,547. In a taxpayer-friendly move, the Bill replaces the term 'previous year' as mentioned in the Income Tax Act, 1961 with 'tax year'. Also, the concept of assessment year has been done away with. Currently, for income earned in the previous year (say 2023-24), tax is paid in assessment year (say 2024-25). This previous year and assessment year (AY) concept has been removed and only tax year under the simplified bill has been brought in. While introducing the Bill in the Lok Sabha, Sitharaman had said that 'substantial changes' have been made in the Bill. The number of words have been halved from 5.12 lakh, and sections reduced from 819 to 236. Following introduction, the Bill was referred to the select committee of the Lok Sabha and the committee was mandated to submit its report by the first day of next session. The Monsoon session of Parliament is scheduled to sit from July 21 to August 21, 2025. PTI JD CS HVA This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.
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Business Standard
5 days ago
- Business
- Business Standard
Parl panel report on new Income Tax Bill, 2025 to be tabled in LS on Monday
A report of the parliamentary committee set up to scrutinise the new Income Tax Bill, 2025, which would replace the six-decade old Income Tax Act, is scheduled to be tabled in the Lok Sabha on Monday. The 31-member Select Committee, chaired by BJP leader Baijayant Panda, was appointed by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to scrutinise The new Income Tax Bill, 2025, which was introduced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on February 13 in the Lok Sabha. The Committee has made 285 suggestions and at its meeting on July 16 adopted the report on new I-T Bill, 2025, which will now be tabled in the House for further action. The simplified Income Tax Bill, which is half the size of the 1961 Income Tax Act, seeks to achieve tax certainty by minimising the scope of litigation and fresh interpretation. The new bill, introduced in the Lok Sabha, has a word count of 260,000, lower than 512,000 in the I-T Act. The number of sections is 536, as against 819 effective sections in the existing law. The number of chapters has also been halved to 23 from 47, according to the FAQs (frequently asked questions) issued by the I-T department. The Income Tax Bill 2025 has 57 tables, compared to 18 in the existing Act and removed 1,200 provisos and 900 explanations. Provisions relating to exemptions and TDS/TCS have been made crispier in the Bill by putting them in a tabular format, while the chapter for not-for-profit organisations has been made comprehensive with use of plain language. As a result of this, the word count has come down by 34,547. In a taxpayer-friendly move, the Bill replaces the term 'previous year' as mentioned in the Income Tax Act, 1961 with 'tax year'. Also, the concept of assessment year has been done away with. Currently, for income earned in the previous year (say 2023-24), tax is paid in assessment year (say 2024-25). This previous year and assessment year (AY) concept has been removed and only tax year under the simplified bill has been brought in. While introducing the Bill in the Lok Sabha, Sitharaman had said that "substantial changes" have been made in the Bill. The number of words have been halved from 5.12 lakh, and sections reduced from 819 to 236. Following introduction, the Bill was referred to the select committee of the Lok Sabha and the committee was mandated to submit its report by the first day of next session. The Monsoon session of Parliament is scheduled to sit from July 21 to August 21, 2025.
