More than 600 people are dedicated to E-Assessment Scheme: Revenue Secretary

A full-fledged machinery will be put in place as the national e-Assessment Scheme is rolled out, Revenue Secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey said here on Monday, adding that more than 600 people are dedicated to this task all over the country.

"This is a great day in the history of the Income Tax Department that we are launching an e-assessment scheme. The scheme has been roled out. The notices also have been issued through our electronic system. Now the actual assessment will also start," said Pandey after inaugurating National E-Assessment Centre (NeAC) here.

According to Pandey, various centres have been established to implement the faceless assessment system for Income Tax Return (ITR), which aims at ensuring transparency in the system.

He said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi talked about e-assessment in 2017 after which various stakeholders including the Income Tax Department worked relentlessly to take his vision to its logical conclusion.

"It date backs to 2017 when Prime Minister mentioned it at 'Gyan Sangam'. It was indeed a very difficult and challenging task," he said.

He said that launch of the e-assessment scheme is a landmark decision that the entire country would be proud of in the coming days.

"This is another feather in our cap. From tomorrow onwards, the expectation of people will be very high. That is the challenge thrown to us. Launching a scheme is one thing, but carrying it through is different. The 58,000 cases that we have selected have to be resolved properly," he said.

"We will do everything to meet the people's expectations," he added.

He said that the Income Tax Department has done some remarkable task that includes switching over to electronic filing of returns.

"We have moved to complete filing of electronic returns. With more than 99.99 per cent returns filed electronically, this year on the last day, 50 lakh returns were filed," he said.

"I got a call from the PMO, asking whether this figure was true or not. I said yes. It is true. Prime Minister Narendra Modi made it a point to mention it in his Houston speech. It is more than the population of Houston," added the Revenue Secretary.

The National E-Assessment Centre is situated in the national capital while Regional E-Assessment Centres are in Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Pune, Bangalore, Delhi, and Hyderabad.

( With inputs from ANI )