Income tax reform: What is Faceless Assessment scheme?

A Faceless Assessment System paving the way for timely completion of matters. #HonoringTheHonest @FinMinIndia @nsitharaman @PMOIndia @PIB_India @MIB_India pic.twitter.com/8lKCKcovMt

— MyGovIndia (@mygovindia) August 13, 2020

But what exactly is Faceless Assessment?

Faceless Assessment is being rolled out to remove the human interface between the taxpayer and the Income Tax (I-T) Department.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the faceless tax scrutiny assessment and appeal would help in easing compliance burden of taxpayers and increase fairness and objectivity in the tax system. “It eases compliance burden, it brings in a fair objective and a just system, there shall not be any physical interface between the department and the taxpayer and to an extent, it shall bring in the certainty of information,” she added.

Take a look at the features of the Faceless Assessment Scheme:

• Selection of a tax payer only through system using data analytics and AI
• Abolition of territorial jurisdiction
• Automated random allocation of cases
• Central issuance of notices with Document Identification No. (DIN)
• No physical interface, no need to visit the income tax office
• Team-based assessments and team-based review
• Draft assessment order in one city, review in another city and finalisation in third city.

So what are the exceptions to this?

Cases relating to:

• Serious frauds, major tax evasion, sensitive & search matters
• International tax
• Black Money Act and Benami Property