Paid all your taxes? Govt may still decline ‘certificate of appreciation’

Paid all your taxes? You may not qualify for a certificate of appreciation from the Income Tax (IT) department if you happen to file your tax return after the due date or have got a notice with a query for any previous year despite being an honest tax payer.

The department awards a certificate to all those, who pay income tax above ₹1 lakh.

While the department has given out lakhs of such certificates, many who have paid taxes diligently have not been appreciated leading to apprehension among honest citizens.

The irony is a query from taxmen can be of any nature including for a completely legitimate yet a large payment through credit card.

“The department will honour only those, who have not only diligently paid taxes but also paid them on time and filed returns on time too .... otherwise the tax payer is not eligible to get a certificate,” a Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) official said.

There are three categories of certificates sent to all eligible tax payers online.

All those paying an annual tax of ₹1-10 lakh are given a bronze certificate, while those pay between ₹10-50 lakh get a silver note and those paying taxes between ₹50 lakh and ₹1 crore falls under the gold category. Those paying ₹1 crore and above are categorised as platinum tax payers.

K Raghu, a former president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), said that those filing tax returns this year must ensure that all information provided are “correct.”

The department will also screen tax returns of those depositing large amounts of cash during the demonetisation period.