The principal chief commissioner of Income Tax, Uttar Pradesh ( west) and Uttarakhand, Pramod Kumar Gupta has said that the tax collection in the UP west and Uttarakhand has increased by 31.1 percent in the financial year 2018-19 as compared with the year 2017-18 which is the highest in the country. In Uttarakhand also the tax collection surged to Rs 15815 Crore in the year 2018-19 from Rs 10839 crore in the year 2017-18. Gupta, while addressing the media persons here on Wednesday said that the department had detected some cases of irregularities in TDS deduction in Uttarakhand. In these cases the deductor tried to justify the wrongful less deduction in the revised return. “There were 20 such cases which included two government departments in Uttarakhand. We took the matter with the chief secretary which yielded positive results,’’ he said. Gupta added that the TDS collection in UP and Uttarakhand rose by almost Rs 4000 crores. He informed that the Income Tax department would soon embark upon an exercise to review the tax exemptions under section 12 A. Gupta accepted lack of manpower in the department and said that the issue is taken up at topmost level. In response to a question, he said that the income tax collection and number of assessees have witnessed a jump after the demonetization decision of government.
Earlier in the day, an outreach programme was organized in Dehradun by the Central Board of Direct Taxes. In the programme many associations of traders, hoteliers and tax professionals participated.
Speaking as chief guest, Principal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, Pramod Kumar Gupta emphasised on non adversarial tax regime and said that tax professionals are very important in setting up a healthy tax regime. He said that the tax professionals should refrain from giving any wrong advice to the tax payers. Gupta added that the Income Tax department has vast data of economic transactions and urged the taxpayers to file income tax returns and deposit tax on time. In his address the Chief Income Tax Commissioner of Dehradun Pradip Kumar Ambashth said that the programme would act as connecting link between the government of India, taxpayers and other stake holders. Advising the officers of income tax department to be more humble and respectful while dealing with the taxpayers, he said that the role of department has changed from being an enforcer to that of a service provider.