I-T dept issues norms for selection of tax returns for complete scrutiny

NEW DELHI: The income tax department has issued guidelines for selection of I-T returns for complete scrutiny in the current fiscal and said such scrutiny would be applicable in cases where information about tax evasion is available from any other authority.

The guidelines for selection for complete scrutiny have also added an additional limb of obtaining prior administrative approval of the Principal Commissioner/ Principal Director/ Commissioner / Director in certain cases, for selection of such cases for complete scrutiny.

For instance, cases pertaining to survey, search and seizure and cases where charitable trusts have claimed exemption without a valid approval have been made subject to prior approval before transmission to the National Faceless Assessment Centre for serving necessary scrutiny notices. Under complete scrutiny, a detailed scrutiny of the return of income is carried out by tax officers to confirm the genuineness of various claims, deductions, etc made by the taxpayer. The objective of this is to confirm that the taxpayer has not understated the income, computed excessive loss or underpaid the tax in any manner.