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The income tax department has launched an ambitious drive to bring under its net 10 million new taxpayers, after the government recently asked the official to achieve the target within the current financial year. As part of the government’s initiative to broaden the base, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), apex policy making body, this week activated all field formations of the department to achieve the goal.
The order issued by CBDT has laid down region-wise targets. Maharashtra’s second largest urban centre Pune, leads the list with the target of about 1,014,000 new assessees, north-western states of Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana about 9,30,000 new assessees, and the newly bifurcated states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana will have to contribute 7,93,000 new taxpayers. Similarly, Gujarat region has been given a target of getting 7,86,000 taxpayers, Tamil Nadu 7,64,000, West Bengal and Sikkim 6,91,000, and Mumbai region 6,23,000 assessees. The target for the national capital has been set at 5,32,000 new assessees.
The department has 18 regions for purposes of collection of revenue under the major heads of I-T, wealth tax, and advance tax for large entities like corporates. The board has also communicated that it should adopt a multi-pronged strategy to achieve this ‘not-so-easy’ target by holding meetings with trade associations and professional bodies and obtaining data on under-reporting assesses through technical and human intelligence. The strategy in this regard was mooted and formally launched in May this year when CBDT told the department about the government’s desire to have at least 25,00,000 new assessees each month from across the country.
