CBI busts attempts to sabotage faceless tax assessment scheme

New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has, in a well-planned drive, registered a case against nine accused persons, of whom one happens to be an IRS Deputy Commissioner, two are income tax inspectors, five are CAs and one person is considered to be close to the department for allegedly making attempts to scuttle the Centre’s Faceless Scheme of Tax Assessment.

The CBI conducted searches at 18 locations across the country, including Delhi, Mumbai, Thane, West Champaran (Bihar), Bengaluru, and Kottayam (Kerala). During the raids, it seized “incriminating documents, evidence of illicit transactions and digital records related to the scam”.

The faceless scheme of assessment is one of the principal reforms in India’s direct tax administration, as human interface between taxpayers and tax officials is completely removed. In this system, the identity of assessing and appellate officers is not disclosed to keep it transparent and reduce the scope of corruption.

The accused—it was alleged that a network of CAs and income tax officers in league against each other—were leaking sensitive assessment and appellate authority information to taxpayers in order to allegedly manipulate pending assessments, appeals, and high-value refunds for pecuniary benefits.

The investigation “disclosed that these mispractices were indeed targeted at sabotaging the integrity of the Faceless Scheme”. CBI has collected “evidence of illegal payments and other financial malpractices during the raids and is still investigating them,” sources said.