Govt Selects Infosys to Develope Rs 4,242 Crore I-T Filing System

Why in news?

• The government said IT major Infosys will develop the next-generation income tax filing system for Rs 4,241.97 crore which will cut down the processing time for returns to one day from 63 days and expedite refunds.
• The processing time at present for Income Tax Return (ITR) is 63 days and it will come down to one day after implementation of the project.
• The project is expected to be completed in 18 months and will be launched after three months of testing.
• Infosys has been selected to implement the project after the bidding process.
• The current system has been a success and new project will be more tax friendly.
• The e-filing and Centralised Processing Centre (CPC) projects have enabled end-to-end automation of all processes within the Income Tax Department using various innovative methods to provide taxpayer services and to promote voluntary compliance.
• The decision will ensure transparency and accountability besides faster processing of returns and issue of refunds to the taxpayers’ bank account directly without any interface with the Income Tax Department.
• Besides, it will also be promoting voluntary tax compliance and managing outstanding demand.
• Once the new mechanism is in place, taxpayers will get a pre-filled form in their income tax account which will have their name, Permanent Account Number (PAN) as well as all the details related to salary, interest income and tax deducted at source captured in the 26AS forms. If any income is yet to be declared, taxpayers can simply add it to the form directly.
• Taxpayers will be provided processing status updates through email, SMS and mobile app.

Hence, if things go to plan, new project will not only be more tax and user friendly but will also help improve tax compliance and manage outstanding demand.

(General economy)(Source:- The statesman)