Lucknow :
Lucknow – the city of nawabs may have some indirect and remote relationship with the country’s taxation system. But, when it comes to the new scheme for income tax assessment introduced in the assessment year 1989-1990, a Lucknow resident is the first person to avail the scheme in the country.
According to the framed copy of income tax return generated using a dot matrix printer, Jwala Prasad, a resident of 424/425 Rajendra Nagar enjoys the distinction of being the first person in India to file the income tax return under the new scheme. The lines below the framed copy of the income tax return reads, “First returns of income processed u/s 143 (1)(a) under new scheme for assessment year 1989-90 in India.”
As per the framed copy, the due date to file income tax return for the assessment year 1989-90 was June 30, 1989, while Jwala Prasad had filed his return on July 23 in the same year. The total income on which taxes were levied on Jwala Prasad was Rs 24400, and the total tax on Prasad’s income eventually worked out to be Rs 1600. Since Prasad had paid an advance amount of Rs 1750 in form of pre-paid taxes, he was eligible for a refund of Rs 150.
The official website of the income tax department also states that in 1989, an attached office of DGIT (Management Systems) to supervise Directorate of Income Tax (Research, Statistics, Publication & Public Relations) and Directorate of Income Tax (Organisation and Management Services) (from September 1989) was created.
TOUGH TIME FOR TAX PAYERS ON LAST DAY OF FILING RETURNS: The last date to file income tax returns witnessed last minute rush at different offices, where tax payers assembled to pay their taxes for the assessment year 2014-15. The worst nightmare was faced by tax payers who took the electronic route to avoid the manual glitches and humid conditions, which prevailed for a significant part of the day.
Interestingly visitors to the income tax office (located on Ashok Road) also complained about the problems plaguing the departmental servers and the apathy of the staff. Narrating his woes, two senior officials of UNICEF said, “We had been running from pillar to post to get the right person fix our problems, but the staff of this department is turning a deaf ear to our grievances. In these circumstances, it really becomes difficult for us to cope up with the department. As a result an angry outburst is bound to happen.”
However, officials said that the problem arose, as the two gentlemen had wrongly filled the assessment year as 2015-16 instead of 2014-15, which resulted in the mess. Another senior officials on a lighter note said that if a persons goes to a bank with a job meant for a post office or vice versa, this type of situation would definitely happen. He however, condemned the apathy meted out to the bonafide tax payers in the income tax office, and said, “It should not happen.”
Speaking to TOI, chartered accountant RP Tiwari, said, “Almost every year, the servers of the income tax department face technical snags, due to which the tax payers are able to file their income tax returns. When the department knows that this phenomenon repeats itself annually, then why it is not taking corrective steps.” Department officials when asked about this said that the online filing of I-T returns is just one of the facilities given to the tax payers. “The tax payers should also avoid last minute rush, as it puts unexpected burden on the server,” said an I-T officer. To expedite tax gathering, an extra counter was opened in each of six regional offices of income tax in Lucknow, said Prajesh Srivastava, public relations officer.
In the financial year 2013-14, the total income tax collected in UP East circle was Rs 7400 crore. “In the current financial year, the target tax collection is Rs 9566 crore, of which till now Rs 1833 crore (19.16%) has been collected so far (till July 30),” added another senior I-T official.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Time of India / Home> City> Lucknow / by Arunav Sinha, TNN / July 31st, 2014
