FM Nirmala Sitharaman calls for friendly tax compliance processes

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday asked income-tax officials to ensure that tax compliance processes are made simpler, more transparent and taxpayer-friendly.

In a meeting with senior tax officials, the FM took stock of zone-wise tax collections.

India's net tax collections as on June 19 in the ongoing fiscal 2026 fell 1.4% from a year earlier to Rs 4.58 lakh crore.


The finance minister directed all principal chief commissioners of income tax to prioritise and accelerate the disposal of disputed tax demands that are currently pending before the faceless appellate authorities, the finance ministry said in a statement.

About 577,000 appeals were pending at the start of the current fiscal year. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) is targeting to address more than 225,000 appeals in FY 2025-26 involving over Rs 10 lakh crore of disputed demand.

The finance minister underscored that prompt and time-bound disposal of taxpayer grievances is essential for ensuring responsive governance.

Sitharaman noted that the CBDT has undertaken several significant reforms in recent years, particularly in faceless assessment, e-verification system, tax exemptions and changes in slab rates, and called for further consolidation of these reforms to deliver tangible benefits to taxpayers.

"She highlighted the importance of a structured, process-driven approach to compliance, which, over time, would lead to both greater ease for taxpayers and improved voluntary compliance across the board," the finance ministry statement said.

Sitharaman added that the new Income Tax Bill, likely to be tabled in the monsoon session, will make tax law simpler for taxpayers.

She asked the income tax department to be prepared to conduct nationwide awareness and capacity-building programmes once the Bill is passed by Parliament.

The meeting was attended by revenue secretary Arvind Shrivastava, CBDT chairman Ravi Agrawal, other members of the board and officials of the Department of Revenue.

The finance ministry issued refunds of more than Rs 86,000 crore for the financial year 2025-26 till June 19, up 58% compared with the same period last year.