Hyderabad: 95% of TDS complaints resolved in 30 days by income tax department

Hyderabad: 95 percent of the 850 taxation complaints received in the year 2022 were completed in 30 days, stated Commissioner of Income Tax-TDS Meghanath Chowhan to the businessmen in Hyderabad.

The businessmen had gathered to understand the taxation systems under The Federation of Telangana Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

The FTCCI urged the senior officials of the income tax department to constitute a Grievances Resolution Committee for mutual advantage.

This request was made by the members due to the complex laws of Tax Deducted at Source (TDS). There are constant changes in the system and it is important that the grievances raised by businessmen are addressed promptly.

Chowhan explains, "70 to 80 percent of the grievances were disputes of deductees and tax payers. Only 5 percent could not be resolved due to lack of data."

One region for Income Tax

Telangana and Andhra Pradesh are one region for Income tax. Both the Telugu states stand 6th in India after Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi, Chennai and Pune. TDS is the most important activity and it is an important segment of tax collection. With the growing economy, the financial activity is also becoming very complex. TDS has been expanded in many activities like online gaming and also withdrawal of cash from banks.

Pay directly as you earn

The deductions of TDS are direct as 'you pay as you earn'. Krishna Kumar P, another official of the income tax department explained, "It is an immediate revenue for the government. It has strongly prevented tax evasion. It has also helped in widening the tax net."

TDS is on salary, rent, contracts, professional and technical services. To claim these taxes provision is available for one and all to file it and claim it. There are extensions also given by the government. Those who are regularly filing TDS have a taxation history and that too works in their favour. During the Financial Year 2022-2023, Telangana had an increase in direct tax receipts of 20.33%.

Wrongful deductions

Hari Govind Prasad, chair of the direct tax committee of FTCCI raised the issues of wrongful deductions and late fee charges.

He explained, "There is scope for improvement with seamless tax payment systems. There are several lapses being noted like wrong PAN number, assessment year, sections and amount makes it a tedious job. This results in double payment, penalty, interest and recovery adjustments of refunds. These processes are time-consuming and require personal visits to the department to rectify the mistakes. These need to be dealt with by creating systems which will not lead to confusion." Small amounts are either given up or as explained "insufficient data" is cited as a criteria for not resolving these issues, he said.