Limited tax scrutiny for cases less than Rs 10 lakh

New Delhi: In an attempt to end taxpayers grievances, CBDT has asked the taxman to “expeditiously” complete those scrutiny cases where income concealed is upto Rs 5 lakh. It has asked the assessing officers (AOs) to confine their queries for which the case has been picked up for scrutiny under the ‘limited’ category, which pertains to cases with income upto Rs 5 lakh and in the four metro cities, besides Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad the limit is Rs 10 lakh.

“Limited scrutiny cases shall remain confined only to the specific reasons/issues for which case has been picked up for scrutiny. The scope of enquiry shall be restricted to the limited scrutiny issues.

These cases shall be completed expeditiously in a limited number of hearings,” the latest CBDT directive issued in this regard on Tuesday, said.

The IT department brings about one or two per cent of cases under the stringent scrutiny assessment procedures where, on the basis of credible information, it has suspicion that the taxpayer has under-reported or hidden his true income.

The scrutiny procedure, while used only for a select number of cases, has been a constant issue of grievance for taxpayers as they complain that the taxman harasses them with long queries and number of time-taking appearances.