Income tax collections from Gujarat rises 114 pc to Rs 70k cr in 2021-’22

When asked which segments have contributed more to tax collections, Kumar said, “The non-corporate tax collections have increased significantly. That is primarily because the tax base last year for non-corporate taxpayers was much smaller. Many people had lost their jobs, smaller firms were not doing well, and lockdowns had impacted them more severely than they impacted the corporates. The rate of growth or non-corporate taxpayers is much higher than the corporate taxpayers,” said the official pointing out how tax collections from individuals have seen a huge jump compared to the Covid hit fiscal 2020-21.

“Among the corporate taxpayers, pharmaceutical and chemicals are among those who have done well. By and large, it has been a satisfying year. I have been able to convince my tax payers that we are not atrocious and have come readily forward and shown that they are willing to be a part of the development of the nation. They had paid taxes well in time and more than what we had expected,” Kumar added.

When the economy was not doing good during the pandemic, the IRS official said, the department had not issued notices or made demands for tax collections. “The reciprocation for our gesture has been nice from the public at large and from corporates. They have not only helped me achieve my revised targets, but I have also exceeded all targets set,” Kumar said addressing the gathering at GCCI.

“We have changed gears and now we have transformed from a tax enforcement department to a tax service department. Earlier you used 26AS which told you how much credit you have. All the information we have we used to hide and it would not be obvious to the taxpayer. Now, we tell you everything, so that we do not want you to jump the red light. We want you to slow down and stop at the red light so that you take proper care, and file returns properly,” the official told the audience who largely comprised businessmen and traders.

The head of the Income Tax department said that with increased digitisation, there was no question of records of the department getting “tampered.”

“We are also moving towards a system that is more transparent. The digital systems are open to everyone. You cannot say you have not received a notice. If you have been served with a notice, it has gone to your email-id. With the age of digitisation, transparency comes in. There may be some teething problems during the initial years. As far as records are concerned, now there is no question of a record getting tampered with at any stage, either by the assessee or by the department. So, we are moving towards a much cleaner, transparent and objective system,” Kumar added.

IT officials from Ahmedabad and Bengaluru took questions on hardships faced by NRIs, TDS deductions and issues related to faceless proceedings during the open house. This was the second Open House held in Ahmedabad after the one held in Rajkot earlier this week. On Friday, a similar event will be held in Vadodara.