New Delhi: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will hold a high-level review-cum-strategy meeting of top Income Tax (I-T) commissioners on Thursday to bolster revenue collection work and chart a roadmap to achieve the target.
All Principal Chief Commissioners and Chief Commissioners of I-T department in the country have been asked by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) to assemble for the meeting in the national capital on Wednesday, a senior I-T official said.
The CBDT has also asked these officers to update and prepare latest reports about the status of tax collections in their respective regions before the meeting.
Among host of issues that pose a challenge to the revenue collection, official said, the FM would review the shortage of tax collection under Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) category.
CBDT Chairman KV Chowdary, gauging the importance of the subject, on Tuesday held a video conference session with the top I-T officers asking them to pull up their socks and ensure a larger chunk of revenue under this category. Officials, citing a CBDT data, said while during the same period last year TDS collections stood at 14.5 per cent, this year it was lagging behind at 9.3 per cent.
"The high-level meeting on Thursday will discuss threadbare about these issues which are posing a challenge to the revenue work. "The CBDT has asked all cadre controlling chief commissioners to prepare the latest data of tax collection in their regions which should be updated till October 20 and this would be presented to the FM," the officer said.
The meeting is not only expected to review the job done till now but also to strategise steps that would bolster these efforts, he added. The CBDT, the apex policy making body of I-T department, has asked the officers to prepare the status reports under separate and detailed heads of collection from each sector so that a threadbare discussion can be held between the Finance Minister and the senior brass of the department.
"It is expected that a roadmap to bolster revenue collection in the remaining months of this fiscal will also be discussed with the officers during this meeting with the minister. The road blocks and achievements made in this domain in this fiscal will also be shared," the officer said.
A big issue of large number of senior posts lying vacant in the department would also be discussed, he added. This is be the second time since Jaitley, who took over as Finance Minister, would be meeting the zonal heads of I-T and CBDT after he met them during their annual conference here in June.
While the participation of Revenue Secretary Shaktikanta Das in the meeting is confirmed, the attendance of MoS Finance Nirmala Sitharaman is awaited, the officer said. The government has fixed direct tax collection target of over Rs 7,36,221 crore for 2014-15, which is 15 per cent higher than the revised estimates of last fiscal.
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