Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Dec 10: K M Bali, Principal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax Amritsar today chaired an outreach and interactive program conducted by the Income Tax Department at Akhnoor with different representatives of trade associations, professionals, tax payers and stakeholders.
The programme was attended by Kuldeep Gupta, Co-chairman PhD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Rakesh Malhotra, President Beopar Mandal, Akhnoor, Shiv Kumar Gupta, President Readymade Garments, Anshul Gupta, CA and other representatives of various traders associations, prominent citizens and taxpayers of the town.
SDM Varinder Gupta and SDPO Akhnoor Varun Jandial, DDOs from different departments, college students, NCC Cadets and officers from Income Tax Department also attended the function.
Speaking on the occasion, K M Bali made aware the audience about the facilities being extended by the department and said that people should not be afraid of the department and should be tax compliant. “The department is accepting the returns filed in summary manner and a very few number of them are being subjected to scrutiny”, he further said, adding “department is in possession of large data consisting of financial transactions of the people which is also reflected on e-filing portal. Taxpayers must consider these details while filing their ITRs”.
Mona Singh, Pr CIT , ReFAC AU gave a presentation highlighting the steps taken by the department for ease of compliance. Baljeet Kaur, Addl. Commissioner of Income Tax introduced the proceedings.
CA Anshul Gupta pointed out that not a single bank is authorised to collect Direct Taxes for the entire Akhnoor Sub Division comprising of three Tehsils – Akhnoor, Jourian and Khour. It was further added that people of the region are not net savvy and there are issues of internet connectivity also therefore people do not use internet banking.
He also highlighted the problem which is peculiar to small stations like Akhnoor and also for many small tax payers in Jammu region like Rajauri or Poonch that they do not have their own email and often provide email of someone else relative or of authorised representative. “Since the ARs keep changing therefore these taxpayers are simply unaware of the notices sent to their email or even ex parte orders”, he added. He requested that physical notices may be sent or sending notices through SMS may also be explored.
Shiv Kumar Gupta requested that steps may be taken in the forthcoming budget to give incentives to tourism in Akhnoor as it is a very important historical site with remains of Harrappan civilization and Kushan period also.
A NCC cadet raised a query as to whether a student can be allotted PAN and the procedure for the same which was explained to him.
The proceedings were conducted by Rakesh Kumar, Addl. Commissioner of Income Tax, Jammu who informed all the participants that it is the beginning of a new chapter of improved communication between taxpayer and the department .The vote of thanks was presented by Rahul Padha, Deputy Commissioner of Income Tax.
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