The Income tax Ombudsman
Guidelines are introduced with the objective of enabling the resolution of
complaints relating to public grievances against the Income Tax Department and to facilitate settlement of such complaints.
The Ombudsman shall be
independent of the jurisdiction of the Income Tax Department. The offices of
Income Tax Ombudsman shall initially be located at New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai,
Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Pune, Lucknow, Bhopal and Kochi.
A complaint on anyone or
more of the following grounds alleging deficiency in the working of theIncome-tax Department may be filed with the Ombudsman:
(a) delay in issue of
refunds beyond time limits prescribed by law or under the relevant instructions
issued from time to time by the Central Board of Direct Taxes;
(b) sending of envelopes
without refund vouchers in cases of refund;
(c) non adherence to the
principle of 'First Come First Served' in sending refunds;
(d) non acknowledgement of
letters or documents sent to the department;
(e) non up-dating of
demand and other registers au leading to harassment of assesses;
(g) delay in disposing
cases of interest waiver;
(h) delay in disposal of
rectification applications;
(i) delay in giving effect
to the appellate orders;
(j) Delay in release of
seized books of account and assets, after the proceedings under the Income-tax
Act in respect of the years for which the books of account or other documents
are relevant are completed;
(k) Delay in allotment of
permanent account number (PAN);
(l) Non credit of tax
paid, including tax deducted at take! source;
(m) Non adherence to
prescribed working hours Income Tax officials;
(n) Unwarranted rude
behavior of Income Tax officials with assesses;
(0) any other matter
relating to violation of the administrative instructions and circulars issued by the Central Board of Direct Taxes in relation to Income-tax administration.
Any person, who has a
grievance against the Income-tax Department, may, himself or through his
registers authorized representative, make a complaint against the Income-tax
official in writing to the Ombudsman.
(a) The complaint shall be
duly signed by the complainant and his authorized representative, if any, and
shall state clearly the name and address of the complainant, the name of the
office and official of the Income-tax Department against whom the complaint is
made, the facts giving rise to the complaint supported by documents, if any,
relied on by the complainant and the relief sought from the Ombudsman;
(b) A complaint made through electronic means
shall also be accepted by the Ombudsman and a print out of such complaint shall
be taken on the record of the Ombudsman.
(c) A print out of the
complaint made through electronic means shall be signed by the complainant at
the earliest possible opportunity before the Ombudsman takes steps for
conciliation or settlement.
(d) The signed printout
shall be deemed to be the complaint and it shall relate back to the date on
which the complaint was made through electronic means.
(a) the complainant had,
before making a complaint to the Ombudsman, made a written representation to
the Income Tax authority superior to the one complained against and either such
authority had rejected the complaint or the complainant had not received any
reply within a period of one month after such authority had received his
representation or the complainant is not satisfied with the reply given to him by such authority;
(b) the complaint is made
not later than one year after the complainant has received the reply of the
department to his representation or, in case, where no reply is received, not
later than one year and one month after the representation to the Income Tax
Authority.
(c) the complaint is not
in respect of the same subject matter which was settled through the Office of
the Ombudsman in any previous proceedings whether or not received from the same
complainant or along with anyone or more complainants or anyone or more of the
parties concerned with the subject matter;
(d) the complaint is not
frivolous or vexatious in nature.
No complaint shall be made
to the Income-tax Ombudsman on an issue which has been or is the subject matter
of any proceeding in an appeal, revision, reference or write before any
Income-tax Authority or Appellate Authority or Tribunal or Court.
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