The introduction of this system is likely to make income tax assessment smoother, faster and hassle-free.
"This is aimed at moving to faceless scrutiny and elimination of human interface," revenue secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey said while inaugurating the National e-Assessment Centre (NeAC). He further added saying, "Anyone whose case is selected for scrutiny will be able to file all the documents online. Officer assessing a case will also be selected randomly."
Here's how income tax department's faceless e-assessment will work :-
1. Under new e-assessment system, an assessee will receive notices under section 143(2) if he has under-reported his income or over-stated losses.
2. The assessee will have to reply within 15 days from the date of receipt of the notice. The notices will be sent electronically on assessee's registered email ID, registered accounts on the web portal www.incometaxindiaefiling.gov. or the on the mobile app of the income tax department which has registered mobile number with real-time alert by way of SMS.
3. The assessee will be required to respond to the notice through the registered account only. On successful submission of the response, the assessee will receive the acknowledgment from the NeAC.
4. The assessee would not be required to appear physically, all the communication between the department and assessee would be done electronically. In fact, all the internal communication within the income tax department will also be electronic.
5. Under the scheme, the NeAC can assign the scrutiny case to any regional e-assessment centre through an automated allocation system. If the regional assessment required assistance from the verification unit or technical assistance from the technical unit, then such requests will be processed through the automated allocation system.
6. In case the regional assessment unit wants further information or documents from the assessee, then such request first has to be made to the NeAC.
7. The regional assessment unit will make a draft assessment order and send it to the NeAC. After which NeAC will examine the draft received in accordance with the risk management strategy specified by the CBDT.
Key things about income tax department's faceless assessment :-
1. Income tax department's faceless assessment system will use the digital technology for risk management by way of automated examination tool, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, with a view to review the scope of discretion of the I-T department's officers.
2. It has introduced the concept of team-based assessment with dynamic jurisdiction which would bring about transparency and efficiency. It will eliminate the interface between the taxpayer (assessee) and the income tax department (assessing officer).
