Income Tax department to launch mobile app to make life easy for taxpayers

Jul 18, 2017, 09.55 AM IST

Taxpayers will also be able to respond to queries from the IT dept or file complaints via the app which is being developed as part of a drive by CBDT to make the administration non-intrusive.

NEW DELHI: The income-tax department will soon launch a mobile app that it expects will act as a portal for almost anything I-T-related that an individual might need. From payments, tax deducted, to communications from the department, everything can be managed through the My Tax app.

"It is being developed in-house," a government official told ET. The individual's profile will be mapped to the permanent account number (PAN), allowing the collation of all tax-related information, including deductions by third parties, pertaining to that login.

Taxpayers will also be able to respond to queries from the IT department or file complaints via the app, which is being developed as part of a drive by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) to make the administration non-intrusive and taxpayer friendly. It will complement similar initiatives by the board such as online scrutiny, which allows tax officials to seek details of transactions and get responses by email.

The department recently unveiled Aaykar Setu, a new taxpayer service module that will have mobile and desktop versions. The app will provide various services such as PAN, TAN (tax deduction and collection account number) and tax payments.

My Tax app will be personalised, linked to a taxpayer through the sign-in, but it's not clear whether tax-filing facilities will be immediately available.

The IT department is keen on the initiative as it believes convenience and simplicity are the key to alleviating fear of the taxman and widening the tax base, having adopted the motto that taxpayers must be treated as customers. This was propounded in the 2016 report of the Tax Administrative Reforms Commission, headed by Parthasarthi Shome.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has sent a clear message to the tax authorities that they need to ensure that taxpayers do not fear the department. The department is working on a number of initiatives to improve its image.

ET had reported earlier that the department is working on jurisdictionfree assessment, which means a taxpayer will not be linked to a particular ward and assessing officer. Assessment, if any, can be done anywhere in India, reducing the scope for interaction and harassment.