Governor Narasimhan calls for ease of filing returns for Senior Citizens

Hyderabad: Governor of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh E.S.L. Narasimhan called for ease of filing returns for Senior Citizens.

Addressing the gathering at the 158th Income Tax Day Celebrations here at Hyderabad today, Governor Narasimhan said that the e-filing of Returns is easy for the youngsters of the new generation, but the senior citizens who are at a loss navigating the online sites need some assistance. Some sort of substitution should be provided to senior citizens / for people who are not computer literate. Trained officers should be there to help them, he opined.

N. Baijendra Kumar, CMD, NMDC; Satish K. Reddy, Chairman, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd.; Dr. Ramachandra N. Galla, Chairman, Amara Raja Batteries Ltd; V. Udaya Bhaskar, CMD, Bharat Dynamics Ltd. and others including lawyers, CAs, Tax payers, IT department officials attended the 158th Income Tax Day Celebrations.

Governor Narasimhan spoke on the various queries that he gets from the general public and also from his personal experiences. Income Tax provides a societal role in governance. All the time we blame the Government for not doing or doing some things. But, by paying Income Tax society participates in governance. Building various infrastructures requires money, and with income tax we all become partners in governance, he opined. That is where the importance of income tax comes, he said.

He suggested the IT officials if some form of consortium of captains of industry can be formed of high income tax payers where they can get back some portion of tax returned on a fixed corporate social responsibility scheme. People who are doing great work in the form of CSR can go in for a guided form particularly in the field of healthcare and education. Affordable healthcare and education are the call of the hour, he said.

People feel that when they are paying so much tax, where does the tax go? For every one rupee paid in taxes people expect 60 paisa to be spent. I think the need of the hour is perception management. There are wrong perceptions amongst people. Many people want to pay taxes voluntarily not coerced. But three are a lot of misperceptions.

The IT department works under difficult circumstances but is doing a wonderful job. IT department is the growth engine for the country. It is the flag bearer for the economic growth of the country, said Governor Narasimhan.

Speaking earlier, in his welcome address Shyam Prasad Choudhury, IRS, Principal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, AP and TS said that Tax matters, income tax matters all the more definitely. We are all tax payers and in a way all are tax collectors also. The target for this financial year is Rs.10,13,000 crores. Rs.60,845 crores are the target collection for the region. This target is set against the collection of Rs.49,775 crores during the last financial year 2017-18.

Speaking about a number of new returns filed, last year registered 8.13lakh new returns. However, in this fiscal, we are expecting to receive about 10.13 lakh new returns, he said. In this current financial year, till date, we have collected 14.8 percent tax as against the national average of 6.8 percent, S.P. Choudhury informed.

Today is the day of rededication. Tax is a civilized contribution but never a price. Today we are seen as a service department rather than an enforcement department. What you contribute will be given back to you manifold, he said.