The Income Tax Department has taken yet another initiative to help the taxpayers with their basic queries about the tax filings. The Department has launched an 'online chat' service to answer the taxpayers' questions related to income tax. On the main website of the Income Tax, a window has been hosted with an icon stating 'Live Chat Online - ask your query.' Once you click on the icon, it will take you to a new window where you will have to write your name, email ID and query to start the chat.
"A team of experts from the department and independent tax practitioners has been deputed to answer the general queries of a taxpayer. The first-time initiative is aimed to enhance taxpayer services in the country," an Income Tax officer told PTI, adding that more features would be added to the online chat system based on the feedback received by the department. The officer further said that an option has also been provided to the taxpayer for emailing the entire chat to their IDS for future reference.
A precautionary note at the beginning of the chat, however, states: "The replies are based on the opinion of the expert and in no manner it should be interpreted as the clarification by the Income-tax Department on any matter."
Apart from online facility, the department is also planning to help taxpayers on ground. Earlier this month, the Income Tax Department proposed to appoint 7,600 additional experts to assist small taxpayers in filing ITR. The Central Board of Direct Taxes or CBDT, the apex policy-making body of the tax department, recently decided to enlarge the ambit of the 2006 Tax Return Preparer Scheme (TRPS) by making the service "digital" and covering all the 708 districts of the country.
A senior official working on the project reportedly said the aim was to ensure hassle-free and 'from home' tax filing service to assessees without they taking pains to go to a Chartered Accountant or a person who has expertise in filing tax returns.
This year in May, the Tax department had launched an online facility to help the taxpayers with their PAN and Aadhaar related issues. The department put out two separate hyperlinks on its e-filing website- one to update changes in existing PAN data or for application of new PAN by an Indian or a foreign citizen.
The second hyperlink is for individuals who want to update Aadhaar details by logging into 'Aadhaar Self Service Update Portal' using the unique identity number. The individual can then upload scanned documents as proof for data update request.
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