WHILE addressing the Annual Conference of
CCITs and DGITs today in the National Capital, the Union Finance Minister,
Mr Pranab Mukherjee, said that in the last
decade, for every ONE per cent growth in GDP there was a growth of nearly
1.9 per cent in direct tax collections. He said while renewed
growth momentum will help in improving the direct tax collections there are
several challenges before your department as it moves forward. At a general
level, there is an urgent need to reverse the declining trend in tax- GDP
ratio by augmenting tax collections. There is scope
for improving tax administration by leveraging technology and facilitating
a congenial public interface, where required, through appropriate training
and capacity building, he added.
The
FM pointed out that the
proposed Direct Tax Code (DTC) is expected to bring in a much awaited transformation
in tax structure and its administration. He said, ''I am hoping that DTC
will be effective from April 1, 2013. The time has come for the Department
to prepare itself for the transition from the Income Tax Act 1961 to the
new DTC regime. It would include addressing various issues like reframing
of rules and forms, redrawing of business processes, training needs of human
resources and the necessary infrastructure needs for smooth transition to
the new regime. All this has to be completed in a manner so as to avoid any
inconvenience to tax-payers and also to sustain the revenue buoyancy.''
Mr
Mukherjee said that the Income
Tax Department has been striving to check the menace of black money and tax
evasion, which eats into the vitals of the national economy and also poses
threats to national security through linkages to money-laundering and terrorism.
He said that the Government has commissioned a study on unaccounted income
and wealth, within and outside of the country, bringing out the nature of
activities that support money laundering and its ramifications on national
security. He said that the Government had also constituted a Committee to consult
all stakeholders to strengthen existing laws relating to black money. The
Committee has submitted its Report to the Government in March, 2012. The
report of the Committee is being examined. I hope that these two studies
will help in identifying the gaps in present legislative and administrative
framework and shall help us in checking the menace of black money through
an effective policy response.
The
Minister said that the Government has taken another important step to curb
the generation and channelization of black money by introducing the ‘Benami
Transactions (Prohibition) Bill, 2011' which will replace the ‘Benami Transactions
(Prohibition) Act, 1988'. The
undeclared assets held by Indians abroad has been a matter of intense debate
recently. He said that to encourage and facilitate
real time exchange of information on the cross border transactions with the
other jurisdictions, we have set up 8 more Income Tax Overseas Units (ITOUs).
After a comprehensive review of the existing network, steps are being taken
to further augment the reach of the ITOUs in some more jurisdictions.
He
said that business intelligence
tools will be in place to provide vital inputs in framing TDS policy and
its implementation. CPC (TDS) will also act as the backbone of CPC-Bengluru,
where about 1.5 crore Income Tax Returns are poised to be processed. It will
enable faster processing of Income Tax returns and issuance of speedy refunds,
added he.
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