Press Release Subject: Prime Minister’s award for excellence in Public Administration to the Income Tax Department

The Income Tax Department has been awarded ‘Prime Minister’s award for excellence in Public Administration’ for e-enabled taxpayer services through ‘NonIntrusive Tax administration System (NITAS)’. The award was presented on 21st April, 2015 at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi by the Hon’ble Prime Minister on Civil Services day. The award has been conferred to the Income Tax Department for setting up and for successful implementation of end to end solution of core services. The NITAS includes integrated e-governance initiatives viz. Tax Information Network (TIN), e-filing portal, Centralized Processing Cell(CPC-TDS) for processing of TDS statements, Centralized Processing Centre(CPC) for processing of Income Tax Returns and the Refund Banker. The solution architecture and the reconciliation processes are one of the best in the world. The projects have been conceptualized based on principles of USAGE – Uniform interpretation of tax laws, Simplification of forms, Easy Accessibility of services, Good tax governance and Empowerment of taxpayer with information. More USAGE prompts more Voluntary Compliance. Presently, over 4.5 Crore taxpayers and 15 Lac deductors are using various eenabled online taxpayer friendly end to end services viz. e-payment of taxes, efiling of tax returns and TDS statements, tax credit statements in Form 26AS, digital TDS certificates in Form 16/16A and issuance of refunds. In the financial year 2014-15, more than 94% of the tax returns have been filed online, while more than 80% of the direct tax revenue is being received online. Besides, about 99% of the TDS statements are being filed electronically. While the TDS statements are processed within a week, the tax returns are being processed within an average period of 30 days. A large number of tax refunds are being directly credited to the bank accounts of the taxpayers. NITAS is the culmination of sustained efforts of officers of the Income Tax Department. Four of the five projects, under the aegis of NITAS, have also been conferred National e-governance awards at regular intervals. The ‘Prime Minister award for excellence in public administration’ and the four National e-governance awards to the Income Tax Department demonstrate the commitment of the Department towards achieving ‘minimum government and maximum governance’ in tax administration and to move towards a nonadversarial and tax-payer friendly regime