Target non-filers & stop-filers, finance minister tells tax officials

The Minister emphasised that use of modern technology can yield far better results as far as tax collections are concerned

Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Tuesday asked Income Tax Department officials to focus more on those not filing returns, to widen tax base and achieve Rs 6.68-lakh-crore collection in direct taxes this year.     

“Tax officials should target non-filers and stop-filers to widen tax base and collections,” he said while addressing top officials of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) in New Delhi.      

Income tax officials have gathered here for two days to participate in the national conference to deliberate ways to widen tax base and strengthen revenue collection. The minister emphasised that modern technology could yield far better results in tax collections.      

He added the CBDT had promised it would not only achieve the targets for 2013-14 but would also make effort to exceed those.      

The CBDT is focusing on non-filers and stop-filers. As of now, it has identified 12 lakh such assessees and issued letters to 1.75 lakh.      

Chidambaram said tax revenues are key to building a strong economy and called for optimal use of human resources.      

He asked officials to “make quality assessments and issue quality orders with speed”.      

To scale up human resources, the Cabinet has cleared a proposal to create 20,751 additional posts in the Income Tax Department in various cadres. This comprises 1,349 additional posts in the IRS cadre and 19,402 additional posts in the non-IRS cadres. The government plans to collect over Rs 6.68 lakh crore in direct taxes this fiscal, up from Rs 5.65 lakh crore in the previous fiscal.