FM Nirmala Sitharaman urges income tax department to simplify tax notices and avoid 'threatening tone'
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday asked the Income Tax department to work towards being identified as fair and friendly.
The FM was speaking on the occasion of Income Tax day celebration, where she marked 165 years of Income Tax, and congratulated Indian taxpayers for the feat achieved.
Furthermore, Sitharaman took this opportunity to emphasise on the need for the language of income tax notices and letters issued to the public to be simplified.
“Tax notices need to be simplified so that people understand them better. Can we explore issuing simple, easy-to-understand notices?”FM Sitharaman asked.
Moreover, the FM asked income tax department to refrain from using “threatening language” in tax notices.
“Let the experience of filing tax return on the first day be as good as filing it on the last day. We have to ensure that threatening language in tax notices and messages is avoided,” said the FM.
Further, FM Sitharaman mentioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of a “simple system”. She called on the tax department to approach the tax paying public with more transparency and less intimidation.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi had been very clear from the beginning that we need to provide a simple system,” the FM noted.
The FM congratulated Indian taxpayers on the occasion of the 165th year of Income Tax. Further, Sitharaman announced that India recorded a net addition of 58.57 lakh first-time tax filers this year.
She hailed the feat achieved by tax officers with this collection and
