Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has emphasized on a mindset change in tax officials while advocating a technology-driven approach. She was addressing the first meeting of senior officials of Income tax and GST wings in Gujarat at Ahmedabad yesterday. She said that tax administrators have a very delicate role to perform. Recalling Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s resolve to ensure that honest taxpayers have not been harassed, Mrs. Sitharaman called for curtailing the interface of taxpayers with authorities.
She said that the use of technology and faceless assessment is the need of hour in tax administration. Mrs. Sitharaman also held a detailed discussion with industry representatives after the meeting with senior tax officials.
It is worth noting that the finance minister’s remarks came days after the tax department made it mandatory for all its officers to not issue any order, notice, summons, or any other correspondence without a computer-generated Document Identification Number (DIN) in an attempt to avoid misuse of official communication to harass taxpayers.