Government not considering merger of CBDT and CBIC: Finance Ministry

The government is not considering any proposal to merge the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), the Finance Ministry said on Monday.

The said merger was one of the recommendations of the Tax Administration Reforms Commission (TARC), headed by Parthasarathi Shome, which submitted its report in 2016.

Reacting to a media report which suggested that a merger of policy making bodies of direct and indirect taxes — CBDT and CBIC— is on cards, the ministry in a statement said, “The government has no proposal to merge the two Boards created under the Central Boards of Revenue Act, 1963.” The ministry said that the report of TARC was examined in detail by the government and this recommendation of TARC was not accepted by the government.

"As a part on an assurance made by the government in Parliament in response to a Parliament question, the government has also placed this fact in 2018 before the Committee on Government Assurances.

The action taken report on the recommendations of the TARC is placed even on the website of Department of Revenue, which clearly shows that this recommendation was not accepted," it added.

The Tax Administration Reforms Commission (TARC) was constituted with a view to review the application of tax Policies and Laws in context of global best practices and recommend measure for reforms required in Tax Administration to enhance its effectiveness and efficiency.

TARC had made 385 recommendations out of which 291 recommendations are relating to CBDT and 253 to CBIC.

The ministry further said it is in the process of implementation of a number of taxpayers' friendly reforms like transition from manual assessment based on territorial jurisdiction to a completely randomized electronic faceless assessment, electronic verification or transactions and faceless appeals.

(Photo Credit: PTI)