“Expand tax base, but don’t be intrusive” FM tells Income-Tax officers

An I-T officer receiving a commendation certificate from FM 

ON MONDAY morning, the Income Tax department organized a Marathon at Noida which is at the outskirts of Delhi. The reason? The department was celebrating 157th Income Tax Day and called the Marathon a “run for nation”, mainly to create awareness about tax returns. Later on the day, finance minister Arun Jaitley addressed the I-T officers. Here are the five advices from the FM to his officers:

CBDT chairman felicitates Income-Tax inspector and World No 5 archer Abhishek Verma

DO YOU know who’s India’s No 1 archer? Here’s an add-on: He is also No 2 in Asia and World No 5 in archery. He is Abhishek Verma. And this archer of global repute is also an Income-Tax Inspector stationed in New Delhi. After the Indian team comprising Verma had clinched the compound team gold medal to conclude their Archery World Cup Stage 1 campaign in Shanghai on May 21, CBDT chairman Sushil Chandra...

Innovation by Tax Bureaucrats: CBDT so far issues certificates of appreciation to 23 lakh taxpayers for “contribution towards nation building”

Taxpayers' Lounge

IN AN innovative way to incentivize honest tax payers, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) now issues certificates of appreciation — in the third round it has recently issued certificates to nearly 3.74 lakh tax payers, with the total number of such certificates now standing over 23 lakh. But whose idea was it? And who's eligible to receive those certificates of appreciation by the direct tax board? To receive a certificate of the platinum category, one needs to…

Upper middle class faces more problems with Income-Tax than the police, says PM Modi

PRIME minister Narendra Modi said on Monday from the ramparts of the Red Fort that he wanted to change the situation where people, particularly those belonging to upper middle class, are scared of Income-Tax authorities. PM further said, upper middle class families face more problems with Income-Tax than the police. “This situation needs to change. And I am already working on it. I will ensure situation changes”, he said. Modi later tweeted:

Know more about I-T dept employee Debashree Mazumdar, a member of Indian women’s relay team in Rio Olympics

INCOME-TAX Parivar has something special to look forward to, in the current Rio Olympics. Yes, Debashree Mazumdar — a Kolkata-based I-T employee and member of silver-winning Indian relay team at the 2015 Asian Championship, will compete in 4x400m relay in Rio. For the 25-year-old Indian athlete, it will be her first Olympics. Debashree was recruited by Kolkata Income-Tax department in 2011, and since then…

Babus and Budget: Disinvestment department to be called DIPAM; Jaitely clips discretionary power of taxmen

Bureaucrats Behind the Budget

AFTER renaming the ministry of agriculture as the ministry of agriculture and farmers welfare — a politically correct name, the government on Monday announced the renaming of one more department, the department of disinvestment. The disinvestment department, which is one of five departments under the ministry of finance, will now be known as DIPAM— Department of Investment and Public Asset Management. Finance minster Arun Jaitley while presenting his 3rd Union Budget on Monday also empowered NITI Aayog to…

Why 50,000 foreign cos are housed in Luxembourg; and how a bearded tax official with a ponytail helped them

Luxembourg

EUROPE’S tiny nation Luxembourg has just 5.5 lakh residents, but it is home to 50,000 companies where one bearded tax official with a ponytail helped build a tax haven. As Wall Street Journal has written in a recent article, confidential tax arrangements for MNCs like Amazon and Fiat have saved taxes but they are now under pressure from the EU. At a time, Swiss Bank account holders are the newsmakers in India, albeit for wrong reasons, here is about a tax bureaucrat named Marius Kohl who as head of...

A Tale of Two IRS: What BJP’s Udit Raj has to say about his “junior” Arvind Kejriwal

Udit Raj: Attacking his junior in IRS

DID Aam Aadmi Party chief and former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s performance as an income-tax officer below par? Let’s have a look at what his senior in Income-Tax department Udit Raj has to say. Raj, a BJP candidate from North West Delhi Lok Sabha seat, says…

Why is IRS Association upset over Arvind Kejriwal's radio ad? Full text of IRS Association's letter

ON Friday, Indian Revenue Service Association wrote a letter to Aam Aadmi Party chief and former IRS-IT officer Arvind Kejriwal to convey its anguish over Kejriwal’s reported statement that he could have made crores of rupees as an income-tax commissioner, but left the service to serve the nation. IRS Association says, the statement has maligned everyone in the department while reminding the I-T official-turned politician that his wife is still a member of the department. Full text of the letter below:

What to do when you are “in doubt”? President gives tips to IRS probationers

IRS trainees during a cultural event at Nagpur Academy (File Photo)

IT WAS a gathering of probationers belonging to Indian Revenue Service (Income-Tax) at Nagpur’s National Academy of Direct Taxes. President of India Pranab Mukherjee asked those future taxmen to apply a test whenever they are “in doubt”, or when the “self becomes too much” with oneself. Here is what Mukherjee said on Monday:

Vodafone CEO describes Indian bureaucracy “complicated and stratified”

VODAFONE Group CEO Vittorio Colao has called Indian bureaucracy “very complicated and stratified” adding that there are “just too many layers and too many people who can interpret things the wrong way.” The CEO of the British telecom giant made this remark while speaking to The Wall Street Journal, the largest circulated financial daily in the world, just a few days before India’s finance minister P Chidambaram presented his Union budget. And the context in which Colao referred to Indian bureaucracy was...

A department, 4,200 IRS officers, an IAS boss & half cooked platter of facts

An analysis: Sayta Prasanth

IN AN incisive analysis of what’s ailing Income-Tax department, Hyderabad-based Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer P Satya Prasanth has written in a blog post that setting up and implementation of a scientific direct taxes policy and administrative system have become a cardinal need, for which the political leadership must look beyond “the half cooked platter of facts (read lies) presented by the administrative leadership (read IAS)”. His disclaimer says those are his personal views. Here are some of Satya Prasanth’s fascinating solutions:

Ex-CBDT chief Sudhir Chandra sets up a voluntary venture to make tax simple

FORMER CBDT chairman Sudhir Chandra has begun a not-for-profit venture to make tax rules simpler for aam tax payers. Chandra who was a favourite official of then finance minister and current President of India Pranab Mukherjee, has formed a…

Rs 135 crore tax demand from a bureaucrat couple dwarfs tax paid by businessmen

Tinoo mistakenly declared as "Proud Daughter of MP"

THIS is the heftiest tax demand from a bureaucrat couple ever. With the Income-Tax department demanding Rs 135 crore as tax from suspended 1979 batch Madhya Pradesh cadre IAS couple, Arvind Joshi and Tinoo Joshi --- questions have been raised about the flaws in the systems which allow powerful babus amass wealth much beyond their known sources of income. If the salary of the highest paid bureaucrat in the country, the cabinet secretary, is Rs 90,000 per month, how can someone’s properties be valued at Rs 300 crore. According to the assessment of the Income-Tax department, the Joshi couple owns assets over Rs 280 crore.

“It’s monstrous fiction,” one newspaper quoted Arvind Joshi while commenting on IT-department’s earlier appraisal report. The current tax demand could be challenged in the court. But what made the high profile IAS couple defenceless was the recovery of whopping Rs 3.1 crore in cash and jewellery in February 2010 forcing Madhya Pradesh government suspending both of them. The Enforcement Directorate later attached properties including cash worth over Rs 6 crore from the Joshi family which was confirmed by the Appellate Authority of Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

According to reports, the I-T department found tax evasion of over Rs 900 crore in Madhya Pradesh alone for the assessment year of 2009-10.
Only a few months ago, Tinoo Joshi's photograph found a place in many hoardings on the streets of Bhopal as state government identified a few women public figures as "Proud daughters of MP". The mistake was spotted and hoardings were pulled down. Joshi's photo was mistakenly printed in place of Nirmala Buch.

Also Read

Joshi couple’s date with Delhi’scorridors

Action and Appointments

a) The ACC has approved the extension of service of Prof Samir K Brahmachari, secretary, department of scientific and industrial research and Director General, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research for a period of two years beyond December 31, 2011.

b) PK Chaudhary, a 1977 batch Haryana cadre IAS and secretary in the department of industrial policy and promotion, will hold the additional charge of the post of secretary, ministry of textiles for a period of three months with effect from the date of retirement of Rita Menon, a 1975 batch UP cadre IAS. Ms Menon is now heading the ITPO.

c) 50 senior Gujarat cadre IAS officers are likely to be election observers in the five poll-bound states of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Manipur and Goa during January-March. Gujarat has about 150 IAS officers serving in the state.

Why suspended IAS couple Arvind and Tinoo Joshi chose Guwahati to reportedly purchase 18 flats?

SUSPENDED IAS couple of 1979 batch, Arvind and Tinoo Joshis’ reported amassing of assets worth Rs 300 crore has been the talking point among bureaucrats across the country on Wednesday, but what has intrigued many is why this Madhya Pradesh cadre IAS couple with stints at New Delhi and Bhopal chose to purchase 18 of out of 25 flats in far-flung North-East city of Guwahati? What’s their Assam connection? Or has Guwahati with its new property boom become a safe route to park unaccounted money of politicians and bureaucrats? No wonder, Guwahati’s property market witnessed a boom even when there was a dip across major metros thanks to global downturn and economic uncertainty.

According to a 7,000 page Income-Tax report that was submitted to Madhya Pradesh chief secretary Avni Vaish and Lokayukta PV Naolekar recently, Joshi couple have properties, investments and valuables worth at least Rs 300 crore. They allegedly have exposure to agriculture, real estate and stock market. According to the I-T report, the couple purchased agricultural or non-agricultural land in places like Kanha and Bandhavgarh national parks, Raisen, Balaghat, Sehore and Bhopal. Also, they allegedly bought six flats in Bhopal and one in New Delhi.

Read

Joshi couple’s date with key Delhi ministries

Maya reviews bureaucratic hurdles

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati has said that bank accounts of the beneficiaries of welfare schemes should be opened and the fund be credited directly into their accounts, bypassing corrupt bureaucracy. This adverse remark against bureaucracy came during a review meeting on Tuesday to take a stock of development work. Divisional commissioners, district magistrates and district police chiefs among others attended the review meeting.

Action and Appointments

a) Ms Sheela Thomas, a 1985 batch Kerala cadre IAS has been appointed as chairman of Rubber Board, Kottayam, Kerala at the rank of a joint secretary. She will replace Sajan Peter, a 1983 batch Kerala cadre IAS.

b) SC Sharma, a 1979 batch Central Secretariat Service officer has been appointed as Deputy Director General in the department of telecommunications. Sharma is presently working  as joint secretary in the ministry of development of North Eastern region.

c) Prakhar Viplava Gupta, a 2000 batch IRS(I-T) officer has been appointed as deputy

secretary in the department of higher education.