Section
144A of the Income-tax Act, 1961 - Power of Joint Commissioner to issue
directions in certain cases - Scheme for improving quality of assessments
For past sometime the Board has been concerned about
the need for improving general quality of scrutiny assessments on a sustainable
basis. In this connection, reference is invited to Board's instruction No.
2/2006 dated 27.04.2006 which required monitoring of scrutiny assessments by
Range Heads under the powers available to them under section 144A of Income tax
Act. Instructions have also been issued from time to time for strengthening the
machinery for review of assessments and inspection of assessment charges.
However, it is felt that there is significant scope for improving the quality
of scrutiny system. The matter came up for discussion during 25th
Annual Conference of Chief Commissioner of Income tax held in August 2009. A
presentation was made by CCIT Chandigarh outlining a scheme for improving
quality assessments implemented in NWR Region. After taking into account
various suggestions, it was decided to devise a similar scheme with appropriate
flexibility for country-wide implementation.
2. Accordingly, it has now been decided that the
following scheme for improving quality of assessments shall be implemented from
calendar year 2010 onwards,
(i) At the beginning of each calendar year i.e. in
the month of January, the Range Head in consultation with the concerned
Assessing Officer would identify at least 5 pending time-barring assessment
cases in respect of each Assessing Officer of his Range for monitoring These
should normally include cases taken up for scrutiny with the permission of
CCIT. The selection should be done jointly by the Range Head and the concerned
Assessing Officer. Cases of PSUs and loss-making concerns should normally not
be identified for this purpose. This exercise should also include those Ranges
which are held as additional charge by a Range Head in January.
(ii) The Range Head would issue directions u/s 144A
in the identified cases for the guidance of the Assessing Officer regarding the
course of investigation to enable him to complete these assessments in a proper
manner. This should be done at the earliest available opportunity so as to
allow the Assessing Officer to have sufficient time to complete the assessment
proceedings. A copy of the directions issued by the Range Head would also be
endorsed to the CIT. The Range Head should also monitor the subsequent
developments in the assessment proceedings in these cases.
(iii) On completion of the assessment the Assessing
Officer shall send a copy of the assessment order to the Range Head and the
CIT,
(iv) In the event of a Range Head holding more than
one Range the concerned CCIT may appropriately relax the requirement for Issue
of directions under section 144A in respect of the cases of the Range(s) held
as additional charge.
(v) For the purpose of this instruction, a quality
assessment would be one in which issues arising for consideration are clearly
identified, investigation of basic facts in respect of these issues is carried
out, adequate opportunity to rebut adverse evidence is given to the assessee,
the rival evidence are suitably analysed and evaluated in the light of correct
interpretation of law, and these efforts result in substantial addition to the
returned Income, The benchmark for the quantum of addition to the returned
income, which may qualify for being a quality assessment, may be decided by the
concerned CCIT depending upon the potential of the given Range/Charge.
Normally, this should not be less than Rs.5 lakh excluding additions on account
of recurring issues. It is expected that the selected cases will meet the
parameters for quality assessment
(vi) As regards the remaining scrutiny assessments,
it. is expected that 30% of assessments completed by the Range Head, 20% of the
remaining scrutiny assessments completed by DC/ ACIT and 10% by ITOs will
result in quality assessments. These benchmarks can be reviewed once the scheme
has been in operation for some time,
(vii) The parameters for determining whether an assessment
is a quality assessment should be decided by the concerned Chief Commissioner
in the light of the above and should be widely circulated at the beginning of
the calendar year i.e. in the month of January of every year.
(viii) At the end of the financial year, the data
regarding assessments completed by Assessing Officers of the CCIT Region shall
be got evaluated by the concerned CCIT in the month of next April according to
the parameters decided earlier. The overall results will be tabulated in the enclosed
proforma and circulated in the CCIT (CCA) Region for information. Separate
performance ranking should be done for Range Heads in respect of cases
completed by them u/s 143(3) out of the cases selected under Instruction 4 of
2007 dated 16.5.2007, and those monitored by them under this instruction.
(ix) CCITs may also devise methods for commending
good performance of Assessing Officers in the area of quality assessments and
reflecting the same in the annual appraisals. Important cases involving large
successful additions may be reported to the Board in monthly D.O. letters.
These can be also be sent to DIT (RSP&PR) for inclusion in the Annual
Report of good assessment cases.
3. These instructions may please be brought to the
notice of all officers working in your Cadre Control region immediately for
proper compliance.
|
CCIT |
CIT |
RANGE |
NAME OF THE ASSESSING
OFFICER |
NO. OF ASSESSMENTS
COMPLETED |
NO. OF QUALITY ASSESSMENTS
OUT OF 2 |
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
|
CCIT |
CIT |
RANGE |
NAME OF THE ADDL./JOINT CIT |
NO. OF CASES IN WHICH
GUIDANCE GIVEN U/S 144A |
NO. OF QUALITY ASSESSMENTS
OUT OF 2 |
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
MANAGEMENT OF SCRUTINY WORKLOAD
INSTRUCTION NO. 4/2007 [F.NO. 225/6/2007-ITA-II], DATED 16-5-2007
Kindly refer to above
2.
Considering the increasing gap between workload and disposal of scrutiny assessments,
it has been decided to entrust the Range Heads with the responsibility of
making assessments in top revenue potential cases of the Range to be selected
on the basis of
returned Income.
3. In this regard, targets
for disposal of cases by the Range Heads are prescribed as under:-
|
S.
No. |
Charge |
Minimum number of cases to be disposed off per year |
|
1. |
Corporate |
20 |
|
2. |
Non-Corporate / Mixed /
Salaries |
30 |
However, the CCITs,
considering the local circumstances and other factors, may assign more cases to the
Addl. CITs. / Joint CITs.
4. It is hereby clarified that the above targets are not applicable to
Central Ranges.