Tax Administration Reform Commission constituted
30 March 2014 11:16 PM GMT
‘Here, we are not focusing on tax policy, legislation. But focus is on the rules and features and structural reforms in tax administration. That work is going on very intensively (through this Commission),’ Advisor to the Finance Minister Parthasarathi Shome said here.
Shome, who is also the chairman of Tax Administration Reform Commission (TARC), was speaking after releasing a book on Service Tax authored by P Rajendra Kumar, a member of Society of Auditors which has published it. Elaborating about the Commission, he said that with the setting up of the Commission, the income tax department would be able to work out solutions for a good tax payer so that he does not get ‘hampered’ while a poor tax payer is ‘targeted’ and then appropriate yardsticks can be used (to collect taxes from him).
He said that the Commission members comprise Ex-Chairman of the two tax boards, former Chief Financial Officer from IT service provider Tata Consultancy Services and an Ex-Vice President for Taxation from the Murugappa Group. ‘It is a mixture of the private and public sectors.
The first report by the Commission is supposed to be out by the end of May and then in a years’ tenure it will give four quarterly reports,’ he informed. Hopefully there would be dynamic recommendations and once the recommendations are out, it would be discussed by the tax administration and tax payers, he said.
‘Under this process, we will be going to various metros and we have already met officers in Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore and Kolkata. We are going to have such a meeting in New Delhi. We have also invited Chambers of Commerce, chartered accountants and tax advocates. So, their inputs are also coming in,’ he said.
He said that one of the reasons for setting up the Commission was to bring in more transparency in the tax department and in the collection of taxes as a certain amount of ‘distrust’ has emerged between the tax department and the tax payers.
Shome, who is also the chairman of Tax Administration Reform Commission (TARC), was speaking after releasing a book on Service Tax authored by P Rajendra Kumar, a member of Society of Auditors which has published it. Elaborating about the Commission, he said that with the setting up of the Commission, the income tax department would be able to work out solutions for a good tax payer so that he does not get ‘hampered’ while a poor tax payer is ‘targeted’ and then appropriate yardsticks can be used (to collect taxes from him).
He said that the Commission members comprise Ex-Chairman of the two tax boards, former Chief Financial Officer from IT service provider Tata Consultancy Services and an Ex-Vice President for Taxation from the Murugappa Group. ‘It is a mixture of the private and public sectors.
The first report by the Commission is supposed to be out by the end of May and then in a years’ tenure it will give four quarterly reports,’ he informed. Hopefully there would be dynamic recommendations and once the recommendations are out, it would be discussed by the tax administration and tax payers, he said.
‘Under this process, we will be going to various metros and we have already met officers in Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore and Kolkata. We are going to have such a meeting in New Delhi. We have also invited Chambers of Commerce, chartered accountants and tax advocates. So, their inputs are also coming in,’ he said.
He said that one of the reasons for setting up the Commission was to bring in more transparency in the tax department and in the collection of taxes as a certain amount of ‘distrust’ has emerged between the tax department and the tax payers.
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