Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, the Hon’ble Finance Minister, has released statistics which prove that the Income-tax department is indeed a dreaded den of corruption. In the year 2018 itself, 1441 complaints were received by the CBDT from hapless taxpayers against the officials of the Department. The Finance Minister has solemnly assured Parliament that the Government is taking strict action against such officials. She has also listed out the several steps which have been taken by the Government to ensure corruption free tax administration in the Country

The CBDT has vide Office Order No. 142 of 2019 dated 26.06.2019 ordered the transfers/postings of several officers in the grade of Assistant
Commissioner/ Deputy Commissioner of Income Tax with immediate effect and until further orders

The CBDT has issued Circular No. 13 /2019 dated 24th June 2019 in which it has clarified the law relating to exemption of service clement and disability clement of disability pension granted to disabled personnel of armed forces who have been invalided on account of disability attributable to or aggravated by such service

Hon’ble PC Mody, the Chairman of the CBDT, has taken a stern view regarding the lackadaisical attitude of the department in the matter of addressing grievances of the taxpayers. He has pointed out that the rights and dignity of the taxpayer have to be safeguarded while enforcing higher standards of accountability on officers and staff. He has directed the senior officers of the department to personally ensure that all grievances of taxpayers are satisfactorily addressed in a timely manner

Eminent personalities have paid their heart-felt tribute and homage to Dr. N. M. Ranka, Sr. Advocate and President, AIFTP. They have recalled the stellar contribution of the field of law and taxation and his generosity as a philanthropist for the welfare of the underprivileged

The CBDT has issued Circular No. 12/2019 dated 19th June 2019 in which it has systematically set out the important issues to be kept under condieration by AOs while making assessment of firms. The recommendations are based on the report of the C&AG. The CBDT has desired that these issues should be considered in order to improve the quality of assessments being framed in these cases and also to reduce the scope for committing errors

The CBDT has issued Circular No. 11/2019 dated 19th June 2019 in which it has provided important clarification regarding the non-allowability of set-off of losses against the deemed income under section 115BBE of the Income-tax Act, 1961 prior to assessment-year 2017-18

The Ministry of Finance and the CBDT have launched a massive “clean up” drive to get rid of alleged tainted and corrupt officers. After the “demotion” of two Joint Commissioners, 15 high-ranking IRS officials have been “compulsorily retired“. However, some influential personalities like Subramaniam Swamy and S. Gurumurthy are claiming that some “honest” officers have been wrongly targeted and implicated in “bogus” cases

The Directorate of Income Tax (System) has issued an important directive dated 18th June 2019 in which it has detailed the circumstances in which issue of paper refunds becomes necessary. With a view to expedite the refund process, a modification in the approval process for issue of paper refunds and Manual Order upload functionality In ITBA assessment module has been implemented. The safeguards required to be taken while issuing paper refunds have also been specified