August 14 2020
India Launches Transparent Taxation Platform
With a clear agenda to build trust between the taxpayers and the administration, the Prime Minister has launched the "Transparent Taxation" platform to honour honest taxpayers amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The said platform focuses on major reforms such as faceless assessment, faceless appeal and the Taxpayers' Charter.
Faceless assessment and faceless appeal
The faceless assessment and faceless appeal schemes aim to simplify the assessment and appeal process, ensure anonymity of taxpayers and minimize direct contact between taxpayers and income tax officers. In this regard, the Central Board of Direct Taxes issued an order under section 119 of the Income Tax Act 1961 dated 13 August 2020 to support various e-governance initiatives, instructing that all assessment orders from now on be passed by the National e-Assessment Centre through the Faceless Assessment Scheme 2019, except for:- assessment orders in cases assigned to Central Charges; and
- assessment orders in cases assigned to International Tax Charges.