prasad1
Active member
In less than a decade, ‘Saral’ tax returns forms have moved from a single page to over a dozen. This year, the 14-page form got more complicated with information on foreign visits and expenses being added. This runs counter to the philosophy of ‘Saral’, whether applied to tax forms or in more general terms to the government’s objective of making it easier to do business. Following an outcry, tax administration has promised to come up with a simpler form.
It is widely accepted that simplicity enhances voluntary tax compliance. The root of the problem is failure to harness the potential of information technology. If IT can be harnessed for processing the other kind of IT not only will tax payers benefit, it will also reduce incidence of black money. Digitisation has been implemented through discrete projects. In the absence of an overarching technology strategy, tax administration functions in silos. Fortunately, that is expected to change this year with a new project dubbed Income Tax Business Application, which aims to integrate different systems. Once silos disappear, tax administration will take a big step forward in the fight against black money.
More than excessively complicated or draconian laws, an effective tax administration is key to curbing tax evasion. Across the world, tax administrations are using technology to make life simpler for tax payers. For example, inspired by efforts of Nordic countries, a diverse array of countries such as South Africa and Turkey have introduced pre-filled tax returns. Here, tax administrations use technology to track transactions of tax payers and send them a completed or largely finished tax returns form. Consequently, life is simpler. In India this is easily doable with salaried tax payers, to start with.
Taxing returns: Harness information technology to combat black money and make tax payers? lives simpler - TOI Blogs
It is widely accepted that simplicity enhances voluntary tax compliance. The root of the problem is failure to harness the potential of information technology. If IT can be harnessed for processing the other kind of IT not only will tax payers benefit, it will also reduce incidence of black money. Digitisation has been implemented through discrete projects. In the absence of an overarching technology strategy, tax administration functions in silos. Fortunately, that is expected to change this year with a new project dubbed Income Tax Business Application, which aims to integrate different systems. Once silos disappear, tax administration will take a big step forward in the fight against black money.
More than excessively complicated or draconian laws, an effective tax administration is key to curbing tax evasion. Across the world, tax administrations are using technology to make life simpler for tax payers. For example, inspired by efforts of Nordic countries, a diverse array of countries such as South Africa and Turkey have introduced pre-filled tax returns. Here, tax administrations use technology to track transactions of tax payers and send them a completed or largely finished tax returns form. Consequently, life is simpler. In India this is easily doable with salaried tax payers, to start with.
Taxing returns: Harness information technology to combat black money and make tax payers? lives simpler - TOI Blogs
