Faceless Tax Assessment Technique To Reveal Human faces

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) is assessing the functioning of its faceless tax assessment procedures to ensure field officers do not make aggressive tax demands and allow natural justice to run its course, official sources confirmed.

The review follows an order issued on August 11 by the Allahabad High Court directing the establishment of safeguards in response to complaints about the system's purported over-reliance on data rather than human contact. The faceless system was implemented in 2019 to automate the procedure, eliminate arbitrary individual discretion by tax authorities, and combat corruption. Many taxpayers, however, have complained about aggressive tax demands and being refused a hearing to discuss such issues.

Hearings were initially a source of worry under the faceless system, but as legal cases piled up, the government made it mandatory to offer a hearing if a taxpayer requested one. The ruling was issued in a case involving Kanpur-based SR Cold Storage and a contested revenue for the fiscal year 2017-18.

According to the sources, various improvements have already been introduced in the evaluation processes this year, and the faceless operation is continually being refined. The person mentioned that e-verification of information has been made available to assessment officers, that standard operating procedures were introduced earlier this month, and that an apex committee at CBDT is closely monitoring the performance of 20 committees set up across the country to look into taxpayer grievances over aggressive made far beyond returned income. "The faceless assessment system is constantly examined for any glitches or vulnerabilities that need to be corrected,"it added.