The income tax department has come to acquire an image of an agency that has usually harassed taxpayers, including the honest ones. But recently several individuals were surprised to receive a 'Certificate of Appreciation' in their mailbox, with some even mistaking it for a spam mail. 

The certificate is signed by CBDT chairman Rani Singh Naira and mentions the taxpayer's name and permanent account number (PAN) and acknowledges his/her contribution "towards the building of this great Nation". 

Even though it comes with a barcode at the bottom, it does not entitle you to any benefit but it does make a distinction between how much an individual has paid in taxes during the last financial year. A majority of those who receive the certificate are in the bronze category, "contributing" between Rs 1 lakh and 10 lakh and those who have paid Rs 10-50 lakh have been put in the silver category. 
A contribution of Rs 50 lakh to Rs 1 crore will be in the gold club and the top segment, which has only a few persons, is platinum with tax payments of Rs 1 crore or more. 

The certificates are sent to taxpayers who have cleared their entire liability and have no outstanding tax liabilities and had filed their returns electronically in the prescribed time by July 31. This year the deadline had been extended by five days. 

Finance minister Arun Jaitley had handed over some of them at the end of last month while most of them are being sent through mails. The move is a result of tax department trying to change its image and appear to be more "customer-friendly" through a series of measures, including less intrusive assessment, and a more polite behavior. #casansaar (PTI)