Concrete steps should be taken to developing a ‘tax culture’ to encourage better tax compliance, said Supreme Court Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose, while inaugurating a tax conference organized by Direct Taxes Professionals Association (DTPA) in association with Business Standard. He also said that tax professionals should play the role of a catalyst to change the mindset of their clients.
Also speaking at the conference, Justice R.K. Agrawal of the Supreme Court said that taxation laws have a major role to play in the development of the country’s economy. “Imposition of tax on the basis of income slabs reduces economic inequality and maintains economic stability,” he said.
Gopal Mukherjee, Member (Revenue), Central Board of Direct Taxes, urged people to take benefit of the Income Declaration Scheme, 2016, to disclose their income and come clean.
Narayan Jain, tax expert, said that the Government should set up a group to chart out an action plan to develop ‘tax culture’. The audience agreed to support the movement and Vivek Gupta, MP, promised to take up the issue in Parliament.
Sunil Surana, President, DTPA, highlighted the association’s objectives and activities.
R.S. Upadhyay, Principal DIT, Kolkata, CA Bhupendra Shah and Firoze B. Adhyarujina, Sr. Advocate, deliberated on ‘Tax aspects of Joint Development Agreement’. The session was chaired by Dr. A. L. Saini, Member, ITAT, Kolkata.
In the second session, SR Wadhwa spoke on expanding provisions of deemed income, while N.K. Poddar highlighted the new penalty provisions. NM Ranka, Sr. Advocate, chaired the session.
A.A. Shanker, Principal CIT-3, Ashish Verma, Principal CIT-17, and others participated in a panel discussion on Income Declaration Scheme - 2016, moderated by Narayan Jain.