JOIN USChief Commissioner of Income Tax, Bangalore-1 and Panaji Division, K Satyanarayana said that the aim of Income Tax Department in providing services like Aaykar Seva Kendra is to promote voluntary tax compliance.
Speaking after inaugurating the Aaykar Seva Kendra (ASK) service at Udupi commissionerate, the chief commissioner said that the Bangalore-1 and Panaji Division stands third in the collection of tax across the country next only to Mumbai and Delhi.
The department is making sincere efforts to provide quality service. He added the division has collected Rs 27,951 crore tax till date in the current fiscal year as against the target of Rs 60,814 crore. Last year the division was able to collect tax up to Rs 51,150 crore.
He said under Mangalore division, the collection is Rs 659 crore till date as against the target of Rs 1,100 crore. In Udupi the amount collected is Rs 352 crore. He said nearly 24,760 refunds are already issued in the Mangalore division, which includes Rs 164 refund amount. The ASK functions as centralised nodes for tax payers to file variety of claims.
With technological software, the Kendra is also designed to provide functionality of outline tracking and monitoring of the claims and representations of the tax payers, he added.
Speaking on the occasion, Corporation Bank Mangalore MD, S R Bansal said that ASK will speed up and bring down the cost of tax collection process. Manipal University Pro Chancellor Dr H S Ballal lamented that the erstwhile Dakshina Kannada district is displaying the negative side in the process of tax payment.
He said nearly 89 per cent tax payers come under the category of 0-5 lakh tax payments, while in the range of 5-10 lakh, it is 5.5 per cent and mere 1.3 per cent people pay the tax above 20 lakh. Less than three per cent of the population paying tax above 20 lakh is not acceptable, he added.