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NEW DELHI: The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has instructed field officers to complete the selection of cases for faceless assessment by end of May, and issue notices to tax payers chosen for compulsory scrutiny by end of June.
In a communication to officers, CBDT also explained the procedure to be followed for selection of cases for complete scrutiny this financial year.
The tax authority has said returns filed in cases where a survey was conducted, subject to certain exclusions, have to be selected for compulsory scrutiny with prior administrative approval of top officials like principal commissioner of the income tax. Cases where books of accounts were not impounded are among the exclusions. In cases of search and seizure too, selection of returns for scrutiny is to be made with prior approval of the principal commissioner, showed an instruction issued on 11 May.
Mint has seen a copy of the instruction. An email sent to CBDT on Saturday seeking comments for the story remained unanswered till the time of publication.
Also, in cases where notices were issued calling for an income tax return and no return was filed by the assessee have to be flagged to the National Faceless Assessment Centre for further action, the department said.
Earlier this week, the CBDT issued a set of instructions explaining to tax officials how to implement a Supreme Court order, issued earlier this month, that validated income reassessment notices issued to several tax payers under an old provision.
As per that, the apex court order applied to all reassessment notices issued between April and June of 2021 under the earlier provision for reassessment irrespective of whether these were challenged in the court or not.
CBDT had also clarified that notices cannot be issued for assessment years 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16 if the income that escaped assessment for those years is likely to be less than ₹five million.