Enumerate tax administration reforms in India ?

 The Government has consistently adopted reform measures aimed at the long term benefits of a more transparent, efficient and tax-payer friendly tax administration.. A major step in this direction is the introduction of ‘Honoring the Honest’ platform.

Reforms in Taxation :

1)Honoring the Honest’

The platform for ‘Transparent taxation- Honoring the Honest’ was launched in August 2020 with an objective to impart greater efficiency, transparency and accountability, and to eliminate physical interface between taxpayers and tax officers.

The key features of the platform are 

(i) Usage of technology, data analytics and Artificial Intelligence and 

(ii) Recognizing taxpayers as partners in nation-building.

The Platform stands on 3 pillars of tax administration reforms namely, Faceless assessment, Faceless appeal, and Taxpayers’ charter. 

1) Faceless assessment: It was was based on the idea that automated random allocation of cases across Income Tax teams with dynamic jurisdiction and elimination of face-to-face contact between the income-tax authorities and the taxpayer can lead to an efficient, non-discretionary, unbiased single window system of assessment.

2)Faceless Appeals Scheme 2020 : Under Faceless Appeals Scheme, 2020, all Income Tax appeals will be finalised in a faceless manner under the faceless ecosystem with the exception of appeals relating to serious frauds, major tax evasion, sensitive & search matters, International tax and Black Money Act

3)Introduction of Taxpayers’ Charter

The tax payer charter includes the following, as a part of Income Tax Department’s commitment:

 1. Courteous, fair and reasonable treatment to taxpayers. 

2. Treatment of taxpayers as honest unless the department has a reason to believe otherwise. 

3. Fair and impartial appeal procedure and review mechanism. 

4. Accurate and complete information for fulfilling tax compliance obligations under the law. 

5. Timely decisions in every income tax proceeding (within the time prescribed under law). 

6. Collection of the correct amount of tax due as per the law.

4)India’s experience with Tax Ombudsman • In India, the institution of Income Tax Om budsman was created in 2003 and Indirect Tax Ombudsman came to existence in 2011. The ombudsman was appointed at the regional offices by the Central Government from amongst the serving officers, to enquire into grievances/ complaints against the functioning of the tax authority.