The Income Tax (I-T) Department has recognised around 4 lakh taxpayers who will face inspection under the new e-assessment scheme 2019. The new scheme was notified recently by the finance ministry for carrying faceless scrutiny of Income Tax Returns (ITR).

The I-T Department has served notices to over 1 lakh assesses, asking for clarification on the returns filed within 15 days, an official told the Economic Times. While around 10,000 such letters came back undelivered, some bounced back. The deadline for sending these letters ends on September 30.

The department has zeroed in on a computer-assisted scrutiny selection (CASS) cycle for FY20 and has chosen around 100 benchmarks to scrutinise returns under the new e-assessment system.

The report said the notices were served on the basis of several parameters comprising undisclosed foreign income and immovable properties, TDS claimed not matching with the tax forms, tax evasion in earlier years, misreporting of long-term capital gains, filing defective return, high-value transactions, non-disclosure of investments made in the name of spouse, relatives, and so on.

As per the I-T Department's action plan, the e-assessment might not entirely be faceless initially. This is because the jurisdiction assessing officer would know the details of the assessee's profile, and can also see it at the time of serving notices.

"For CASS 2019, the notices shall be generated and issued in a centralised manner by the prescribed tax authority, for cases selected for scrutiny. After the issuance of notices, further assessment proceedings will be conducted by the jurisdictional assessing officer in a regular manner through Income-tax Business Application (ITBA)," as stated in the assessment module drawn up by the I-T department. #casansaar (Source - PTI, BusinessToday)