No Proposal To Merge CBDT, CBIC, Says Centre; Refutes Media Report As 'Baseless, Unverified'

 The government is not considering any proposal to merge the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), the Union Finance Ministry said on Monday.

The Centre today refuted as "baseless and unverified" a media report which claimed that the Union government is considering a proposal to merge the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC).

As per the Ministry of Finance, a leading newspaper published a news item which stated that the Government is considering such a proposal.

"This news item is factually incorrect as the Government has no proposal to merge the two Boards created under the Central Boards of Revenue Act, 1963," the Ministry said.

It added that the article was published "without due verification of facts from the competent authorities of Ministry of Finance.

"It only creates a policy distraction when the Ministry is amidst the implementation of a large number of taxpayers' friendly reforms like a transition from manual assessment based on territorial jurisdiction to a completely randomized electronic faceless assessment, electronic verification or transactions and faceless appeals," the finance ministry stated.

The Ministry further said that the merger had been recommended by the Tax Administrative Reforms Commission (TARC) earlier, but it was not accepted by the government after examination in detail.

"As a part on an assurance made by the Government in the Parliament in response to a Parliament question, the Government has also placed this fact in 2018 before the Committee on Government Assurances," it said.

The action taken on the recommendations are even displayed on the website of the Department of Revenue, which reveals that the recommendation was not accepted.
"It is evident that this misleading article has been published with no due diligence of even checking official records placed in the public domain or checking the latest status with relevant competent authorities in the Ministry of Finance....This news item is completely rejected as baseless and unverified," the Ministry said. 

(ANI)