In a big relief to taxpayers, the government has set the ball rolling on faceless and paperless income tax proceedings with the notification of the income tax e-assessment scheme.
The move is expected to cut down on harassment of taxpayers and improve the image of the department by ensuring that all tax proceedings including scrutiny is done on a centralised basis without any direct interaction with the assessee.
Faceless IT assessments are likely to start from next month.
As part of the scheme, the Central Board of Direct Taxes will set up national and regional e-Assessment centres as well as assessment units to conduct electronic assessments and proceedings including refunds.
All communication will be conducted electronically and an assessee or his representative will not have to be physically present.
The national e-assessment centre after completing the assessment will transfer all electronic records to the Assessing Officer for imposing penalty or collection and recovery of demand.
The CBDT had been working on electronic assessments for more than a year now and was rolling out some processes in stages.