Stop increasing taxpayer's hassle in faceless appeals

- Antenna- Vivek Mehta

- Arbitrary judgments in appellate cases: Stop troubling the tax payer by asking for the same data twice: Appellate officer can use the Assessing Officer's advice to resolve the case expeditiously.

In faceless appeal, the taxpayers' trouble is being increased by asking the taxpayers for data anew. Instead, if the Appellate Officer carries out data verification by calling for the report prepared by the Assessing Officer, the process of giving justice will become easier and faster. It is therefore demanded that the report prepared by the Assessing Officer for verification of points other than legal points should be allowed for speedy justice to the assessee in faceless appeal cases. It will enable the Assessing Officers to come to a conclusion on some issues by taking into consideration the reports prepared on the basis of the verification done by the Assessing Officers in appeal cases. Apart from this, if the Appellate Office officers give judgments by presenting findings and reasons in their own way, the appeal cases will be resolved quickly.

The power to set aside the CIT appeal under the provisions of Section 251 has been withdrawn from 1st June, 2001 itself. Therefore, if the assessment report prepared by the Assessing Officer is remanded i.e. sent to the appellate office and scrutinized based on it, the work will become very easy. Based on the assessment report of the Assessing Officer, the Appellate Officer will be able to dispose of his cases quickly and easily. It has also been demanded that appropriate order be passed in this regard.

Assessment orders are prepared in haste as many appeal cases run out of time bar i.e. the time limit for running them. In many appellate cases taxpayers request the CIT Appeals to request the NFAC to call for the Assessing Officer's report. This report is prepared by the Assessing Officer based on the arguments presented by the assessee's consultant in pursuance of the notice given by the Income Tax Department. Therefore, remand of his report is sought. As it only involves verification of detailed data, if the data is verified in appeal cases on the basis of their report, as a result, the consultants of the taxpayer will not have to submit afresh. Also based on it the Appellate Officer of NFAC can also verify the necessary information. There is no need to re-fold huge accounts, documents or lots of papers for this operation.

A letter has been written on behalf of the Gujarat Chamber dated 18th March 2023 to the Chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes regarding this dispute. The letter states that at present the plight of tax consultants is increasing as the Assessing Officer's report is not considered in faceless appeal cases. Gujarat Chamber's Direct Tax Taskforce, which wrote the letter, said that haphazard decisions are being made due to hasty judgments in appeal cases. It is seen that injustice is being done to the tax payers. A number of appeal cases have already been heard before the face-to-face hearing jurisdiction in appeal cases is transferred to the National Faceless Appeal Centre. There is also a preparation for a verdict about it. But the details of representations made in CIT appeals are not necessarily transferred to the National Faceless Appellate Center as their jurisdiction is being changed.