Tax department to promote faceless tax scrutiny: Nirmala Sithamraman

Mumbai: Finance Minister Nirmala Sithamraman on Friday said the tax department will promote faceless tax scrutiny to ensure no harassment of the assesses.

“If technology is used, it will be far more convenient to collect tax. Engagement with tax administrators is necessary. We want to understand the challenges faced by them,” Sitharaman told a media briefing in Kolkata.

She pressed that the tax department to promote faceless tax scrutiny, and officials were apprised of the use of technology for tax assessment.


“By adopting technology, they are hoping that there will be smooth tax scrutiny,” she said.

She also said that another set of announcements were likely after the two rounds of measures that were announced in the last couple of weeks.

Sitharaman last Friday had announced four major bank mergers, by consolidating Punjab National Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce and United Bank to create India’s second-largest lender; merging Canara Bank with Syndicate Bank to create the fourth-largest PSU lender, bringing together Union Bank of India, Andhra Bank and Corporation Bank and Allahabad Bank with Indian Bank.

Earlier FM has also announced a slew of measures trying to pump-prime the economy and assuage concerns of investors as well as corporates arising out of higher taxes and also tax review cases, even as she made a push to reverse the auto sector slowdown.