Download First Report Of The Tax Administration Reform Commission

It may be recalled that the Tax Administration Reform Commission, headed by Dr. Parthasarathi Shome, was set up in August 2013 to suggest core reforms to the tax administration set-up in the Country. The TARC has now issued a report dated 30.05.2014 called the “First Report of the Tax Administration Reform Commission (TARC)”. The said report makes several critical and far-reaching suggestions which are intended to radically change the working of the Income-tax and other Revenue departments.

One of the important recommendations is that the department should treat the taxpayer as a “customer” and have “customer focus” in its attitude, which is totally lacking at present. One of the important “fault lines” identified by the TARC is that there is extreme “risk aversion” amongst the officials with the result that it leads to infructuous tax demands and the filing of frivolous appeals. The TARC has also come down strongly on the rude and arbitrary behaviour of officers and their total lack of accountability. It has noted with regret that taxpayers are totally helplessness against such an attitude and this leads to non-compliance of tax laws.

It may be noted that several recent judgements such as Sairang Developers (Bom High Court), Bharti Airtel (ITAT Delhi) & Growel Energy (ITAT Mumbai) bear out the reality of what the TARC has stated.