Of the 10 to 12 lakhs PAN card holders in Madurai, only 45% of them pay taxes, said Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, Madurai, Sanjay Rai.
Speaking at the taxpayers outreach programme organised by Tamil Nadu Chamber of Commerce and Industry along with the Department of Income Tax here on Wednesday, he said, the overall tax paying population in Madurai was not in consonance with the country’s growth in taxpayers.
“Though no one likes paying taxes, it is the taxes that takes the country on the positive path of development. Many facilities like roads, lights, railways, among others we enjoy are from the taxes paid,” he added.
He urged the taxpayers to comply with the upgrading technology in the IT department. “If not regularly, at least periodically, everyone should check their registered mail IDs for information from the department. We no longer send posts and couriers for any queries,” Mr. Rai added.
So, people should not hesitate to reply or respond to the mails which were being sent from the IT department, sometimes this could be something important requiring immediate attention and action, he said.
Taxpayers should refer to the Annual Information Statement (AIS) to know their registered source of income and transactions, and after the referral they should make sure that was reflected in their tax filing, he noted.
“Here, in India people complain of high taxes being levied, but the cost of collection of tax in India is ₹13 per 1,000 people,” he added. “Ours, when compared to most of the developing and developed countries, has the most considerable tax percentage,” Mr. Rai said.
T. Vasanthan, Principal Commissioner of Income Tax, Madurai, while addressing the gathering said, several facilities like faceless assessment and faceless appeal have been introduced which would shed off the burden of visiting the office every time.
Facilitating easy payment, multiple modes like net banking, debit cards, credit cards and UPI were enabled, he added. Pointing out the advantage to the taxpayer while opting for online transaction method, Mr. Vasanthan said, “When payment of tax is made through net banking, the transactions can even be scheduled for a later date, thus avoiding the possibility of missing the deadline for payment of taxes.”
Several grievance redressal platforms like ‘Aayakar Seva Kendra,’ Assistance of Jurisdictional Assessing Officers and E-Nirvan have been introduced, he pointed out.
N. Jegatheesan, president of TN Chamber, requested the officials to shift one of the four Income Tax Appellate Tribunal benches from Chennai to Madurai, as it would benefit lakhs of taxpayers in the Southern region who now had to travel to Chennai every time for the second appeal.
He added, “As even a GST Appellate Tribunal which was meant for indirect taxes is to come up in Madurai, setting up an ITAT bench here would be very helpful.”
