Income Declaration Scheme-2016 should be taken as taxation reforms: Anandiben

Gandhinagar: Chief Minister Anandiben Patel today asked taxpayers to take the Central Government’s ‘Income Declaration Scheme-2016’ as a measure for Tax Reforms rather than tax terrorism and which is in the interest of the nation.

Initiating discussion at a seminar on ‘Income Declaration Scheme-2016’ here to create awareness among the public for declaration of hitherto undeclared income, Mrs. Patel said the scheme is an attempt to correct the existing taxation system embroiled as it is in the rigmarole of complicated and confusing procedures.

She said it has been initiated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to lift the people over an atmosphere of despair and depression. It is an opportunity for a person coming under the tax bracket to declare the income which could not be done in the past for some reason or the other. It is also to correct, if any, the losses and mistakes.

The Chief Minister justified starting the series of seminars on the theme from Gujarat because the people of this state are considered to be expert in trade and commerce. As against 1.57-crore PAN card holders, she said, 30-lakh people filed tax returns in Gujarat last year, contributing maximum amount of Rs.34,865-crore tax in the kitty.

She asked the Chartered Accountants’ Association, Chambers of Commerce and other Organizations to create an atmosphere for tax compliance since taxes are important source of income to be spent on a nation’s development.

Speaking at the seminar, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that the taxation structure in the country is in for a overhaul and has to be carried out in a timeframe. This Income Declaration Scheme is the first in the series, which has been discussed and immaculately planned for the last two years to ensure minimum trouble to the taxpayers. The details about the scheme can be provided from user-friendly digital platform to the people’s email accounts. The taxpayer can change their mental block. The refunds would also be sent to the taxpayers within 2-3 days.

He said that nearly 84 per cent of tax returns are filed through digital mode now, but a large section of the population is still out of the tax net. Tax is necessary to foot the bill for health, education, infrastructure and other facilities.

Union Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia explained that this scheme is to declare hitherto undeclared income from benami movable or immovable property, at the same time ensuring mental peace for all time. The details about the source of the income would be kept a secret and would not be posted on public domain. He said this is an appropriate way to channelize black money into the development of the nation.

Prominent among those present on the occasion included Central Board of Direct Taxes (IT) Member S.K. Sahay, Institute of Chartered Accountants of India President Devaraja Reddy, FICCI Senior Vice-President Pankaj Patel, Gujarat’s Additional Chief Secretary J.N. Singh, Economic Affairs Secretary Mona Khandhar and Commercial Tax Commissioner P.D. Vaghela.

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