I-T department to hire 19,000 tax officials

The addition to manpower would also help analyse the repository of data on high-value purchases to identify tax evaders.

The income tax department,which has just sent reminders to over 1 lakh assessees who failed to file tax returns,is embarking on a massive recruitment drive,hiring 19,000 more officers at various levels with a view to increasing the efficiency of the tax administration.

As for taxpayers,this could mean faster and better delivery of services quicker refunds,for instance but could also result in a section of them,especially large corporates and high net worth individuals who escape or underpay taxes,getting hefty demand notices in the months to come.

The government is keen to reclaim the peak tax-to-GDP ratio of 12 per cent reached in 2007-08 and recognises that revenue enhancement is the ideal way of bridging revenue deficit rather than slashing productive government expenditure.

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As per a proposal before a group of ministers (GoM) led by defence minister AK Antony on cadre restructuring of the income tax department,about 800 senior level officers in Group A and more than 18,000 Group B and Group C employees will be hired once the ministerial panel and the Cabinet clears the proposal.

Fresh recruitment along with freeing some existing officers from routine administrative work thanks to adoption of technology would enable the department to focus more on searches,surveys and scrutiny of returns,the steps before issuing assessment orders to defaulters.

The addition to manpower would also help analyse the repository of data on high-value purchases to identify tax evaders. Once implemented,the department will be able to double the level of scrutiny from 1 per cent now to 2 per cent.

The department has started the practice of combing through data on large savings bank deposits,credit card payments,investments in equity mutual funds and debt instruments to identify persons and corporate entities that have either not filed or have filed misleading returns.

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To step up this tax collection drive,the department needs to address its acute manpower crunch. According to official figures,it has a staff shortfall of 30 per cent compared to a sanctioned strength of 57,793 employees.