Income-tax Rules amended to ease record authentication in faceless assessment
Electronic records submitted in the Income Tax Department’s portal shall be deemed to have been authenticated by the taxpayer by electronic verification code
The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has amended Income-tax Rules, 1962 to make authentication of electronic records under faceless assessment procedure easy.
“For easing the process of authentication of electronic records in faceless assessment proceedings, the Government has amended Income-tax Rules, 1962 vide notification no G.S.R. 616(E) dated 6th September, 2021," said Ministry of Finance in a statement on Tuesday.
The amended Rules mandate that electronic records submitted through registered account of the taxpayers in the Income Tax Department’s portal shall be deemed to have been authenticated by the taxpayer by electronic verification code (EVC).
“Therefore, where a person submits an electronic record by logging into his registered account in designated portal of the Income-tax Department, it shall be deemed that the electronic record has been authenticated by EVC for the purposes of section 144B(7)(i)(b) of the Income-tax Act, 1961," the ministry added.
However, existing provisions of section 144B(7)(i)(b) currently do not provide this simplified process of authentication by EVC to certain entities, including companies, tax audit cases, etc, the ministry clarified. They are mandatorily required to authenticate the electronic records by digital signature.
“In order to provide the benefit of the simplified process of authentication by EVC to these persons, it has been decided to extend the simplified process of authentication by EVC to these persons also," the Finance Ministry added.
Now persons who are mandatorily required to authenticate electronic records by digital signature shall be deemed to have authenticated them when they submit the record through their registered account in the Income-tax Department’s portal.
Legislative amendments in this regard shall be proposed in due course, the ministry said.
Faceless assessment was introduced in the Union Budget 2019 to eliminate the interaction between the assessment officer and assessee during tax assessment. The intention was to create a transparent tax network with dynamic jurisdiction.
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