Finance minister P Chidambaram has told top income tax officials to keep a close tab on those not filing tax returns and ensure that the tax collection target for the current financial year is met.

Inaugurating the annual conference of chief commissioners and director generals of income tax, Chidambaram asked the income tax officials to use modern tech tools in a focused to detect tax evaders to widen tax base and deepen tax collections. 

"This year you have to ensure that the 100% collection target is achieved..," he told the conference. 

The minister said the department should especially focus on those not filing returns or those who had stopped filing for some reason. 

"We are in favour of intelligence and technology-based tax collection system which is both non-intrusive and non-evasive," Chidambaram said and added that the Central Board ofDirect Taxes had assured him that it will not only achieve the targets for 2013-14 but would also make every effort to exceed the target.

The government plans to collect over Rs 6.68 lakh crore in direct taxes in 2013-14. The CBDT is focusing on non-filers and stop-filers. As of now it has identified 12 lakh such assessees and issued letters to about 1.75 lakh asking them to declare their true income and pay taxes. The minister said tax revenues are key to building a strong economy and asked the officials to focus on quality assessments and issue quality orders along with speed.

The union cabinet has cleared 20,751 additional posts in the income tax department. "The new structure will enable the department to fulfill their responsibilities with greater efficiency. The senior level posts are being entrusted with greater responsibilities and will stand upgraded," he said. 

CORPORATES TOO UNDER SCANNER 

Top 6,000 corporates that contribute 90% of the government's corporate tax collections will face a closer scrutiny by I-T authorities. The department is also looking to closely monitor high-value transactions and has sent notices to those found with a dummy PAN or without one. 

Senior officials in the department will monitor top 100 cases in connection to advance tax, dividend distribution tax and tax deducted at source. Besides, the investigation wing of I-T department will use the 360-degree profiling software tool along with data from the Financial Intelligence Unit to detect tax evaders.

(Economic Times)