No timelines in Taxpayers' Charter; vague compared to Citizens' Charter

The Taxpayers' Charter has left tax officers puzzled whether they will still need to abide by the timelines mentioned in the Citizens' Charter

The Taxpayers' Charter, unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi statuting taxpayer’s rights amid much fanfare over video conferencing on Thursday appears weak and vague when compared to the existing Citizen’s Charter of the Income Tax department that specifies stiff timelines for delivery of services. This has left tax officers puzzled whether they will still need to abide by the timelines mentioned in the Citizens’ Charter or only go by the Taxpayers’ Charter.

While the Taxpayers' Charter only talks about ‘providing timely decisions’ and ‘resolve tax issues in a time bound manner’, the Citizens’ Charter specifies timelines for 16 services including issue