Online Case Law Research Programs, Online Certificate Programs In Law Law : Income Tax Department Support Video Conference Hearing Amendament in Faceless Appeal

Income Tax Department Support Video Conference Hearing Amendament in Faceless
Appeal
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siteadmin on 30/12/2021 07:16:00


The Income Tax Department has made changes in the existing Faceless Appeal
Scheme, making the process easier for taxpayers who wish to have a personal
hearing through video conference while appealing against the tax demand by the
department. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) notified the Faceless
Appeal Scheme 2021 on 28 December. The Board said that the Commissioner
(Appeals) will allow the request for personal hearing through video conference
and will inform the date and time of the hearing.
online system problem
Faceless Appeal Scheme The online system had increased the difficulties of the
traders. The biggest problem was coming in online appeal. In this, taxpayers
have to give their answers online. The answer file should not exceed 5 MB.
Traders were not able to present their full side in the online system. Due to
this, the tax assessment was going against him. CA and tax advocates were also
not able to get rid of this problem to the traders. The facility of video
conferencing was available to represent the parties, but due to server problems,
the merchants were not getting the benefit of it.Such hearings will now be
conducted through video conferencing or video telephony. For this, all those
applications and software can be used, which support video conferencing or video
telephony.
However, no person shall be permitted to appear before the Income-tax Authority
in person or through any authorized representative in connection with any
proceeding under the Scheme. The request of the taxpayer for a personal hearing
to make oral submissions under the previous 'Faceless Appeal Scheme 2020
requires the approval of the Chief Commissioner in-charge of the Regional
Faceless Appeal Center or the Director General of I-T. Such approval was granted
only if the Chief Commissioner or the Director General of I-T was of the opinion
that the specified circumstances warrant a personal hearing.
The Faceless Appeal Scheme, which aimed to remove the human interface between
the taxpayer and the Revenue Department, was launched on 25 September 2020 and
provided a completely faceless process for appeals to the Commissioner
(Appeals). It allowed taxpayers to file their documents in electronic mode thus
saving them from being physically present at the Income Tax Office. Appeals
under this scheme were randomly allotted to any officer whose identity would
remain unknown to the appellant. The appellate decision was also team based.
However, serious fraud, major tax evasion, sensitive and search cases,
international tax, black money act and cases related to benami property were not
covered under the scheme. The plan ran into legal entanglements as several
taxpayers approached the courts challenging the denial of personal hearing
facility, following which the Faceless Appeal Scheme 2021 was notified on
December 28.