The Government on Friday issued a notification operationalising ‘Faceless Income Tax Appeals’ system which seeks to honour honest taxpayers of the country and promote transparency in tax collection.
Under faceless appeals, all Income Tax appeals will be finalised in a faceless manner under the faceless ecosystem with the exception of appeals relating to serious frauds, major tax evasion, sensitive and search matters, international tax and Black Money Act, the Finance Ministry said in a statement.
Necessary Gazette notification has also been issued in this regard, it added.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 13, while launching the faceless assessment and taxpayers’ charter as part of “Transparent Taxation - Honouring the Honest” platform, had announced launching of faceless appeals on September 25 on the birth anniversary of Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhayay.
In recent years, the Income Tax Department has carried out several reforms in direct taxes for simplification of tax process and ease of compliance for taxpayers.
“Under the Faceless Appeals, from now on, in income tax appeals, everything from e-allocation of appeal, e-communication of notice/questionnaire, e-verification/e-enquiry to e-hearing and finally e-communication of the appellate order, the entire process of appeals will be online, dispensing with the need for any physical interface between the appellant and the Department,” the ministry said.