The government has constituted a task force on direct taxes, to be headed by Vijay Kelkar, adviser to the finance minister.
The task force, on the lines of the one set up for indirect taxes, will examine the possibility of rationalisation and simplification of direct taxes to minimise exemptions, remove anomalies and improve equity.
It will also suggest improvements in taxpayer services to reduce compliance costs, and impart transparency in administration in line with international practices.
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An official release issued today said the other terms of reference for the task force included redesigning enforcement procedures to improve the compliance level.
The other members of the committee include Ashok Lahiri from the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, Omkar Goswami from the Confederation of Indian Industry, Urjit Patel from the Infrastructure Development Finance Company, former chief commissioner of income tax S N L Agarwala, advocate Arvind Sonde, Infosys CFO T V Mohandas Pai, chartered accountants Dipankar Chatterjee and P C Parmer, and executive director of Amco Batteries S Ananthanarayanan.
The member-secretary of the group will be A J Majumdar, joint secretary in the Central Board of Direct Taxes. The group will submit its draft consultation paper to the government by October 31, while the final report is scheduled for submission by December 15, 2002. The public can send in their comments at jstp11@finance.nic.in.