Gone are the days when chartered accountants and their clients (assessees) had to wait for long to get refund from the Department of Income Tax, that it was rapidly processed and digitally issued today at a faster pace, said Principal Commissioner (Income Tax) Susie Babu Varghese here on Monday.
Presiding over the 157th Income Tax Day celebrations, where many retired officers and staff were honoured, she said that from an enforcement agency, the Income Tax department had turned into a citizen-centric department and it played a pivotal role in the country’s development and economy.
A number of initiatives launched by the Government of India had made it a tax-friendly regime. Be it filing of annual return, verification of return or grievance which may arise, they were all resolved at a faster pace. Thanks to the technology, that refunds were processed rapidly and issued through digital mode.
Similarly, there was no need to wait for long to get a PAN card as it was issued swiftly through a simple procedure. For the benefit of a majority of tax payers e-filing returns and e-verifying them had saved a plenty of time thus taking the IT department’s functioning into e-governance mode, Ms. Varghese said, and added that action was initiated against persons for non-compliance or whoever was found to be lackadaisical in taking the directives of the department.
Tracing the history and background of how the concept of Income Tax came into being from time immemorial, chief guest Su. Venkatesan, the Sahitya Academy award recipient, said that it was interesting to note that even before the British regime, the states ruled by the then Kings had indulged in tax collection in different forms from the affluent sections. In fact, it was even more exciting to read from the history books as how the police force was used to collect tax after the British left the country.
Retired senior IRS officer S. Mohan Gandhi recollected how tough and challenging it was to work on key assessments of noted personalities such as MGR.
Similarly, A. Sooriyanarayan, who retired as chief commissioner, and S. Sankaralingam as Commissioner shared their experiences during their tenure. Likewise, retired IT Inspector D. Jeyachandran said that how laborious it used to be to work with typewriters in the absence of computers and other technologies.
Senior CA PV. Rajarajeshawaran offered felicitation.
Joint Commissioners S. Rengarajan welcomed and S. Rajeswari proposed a vote of thanks.
Children who had won prizes in various competitions were presented with awards on the occasion.