2019-08-11_Business_Today

52 I BUSINESS TODAY I August 11 I 2019

POLICY > e-ASSESSMENT

gle mail cannot exceed 50 MB. So, it is difficult to send all

the details at one go.

Mohan of AMRG & Associates says that for bigger com-

panies, tax papers could run into thousands of documents

• just one ledger could contain 200 pages. “No system can
  scan thousands of copies in 10-15 minutes. Also, what will
  happen if the person scanning those pages forgets to send
  the last two pages of the ledger? What will happen if the
  AO does not check the last page but looks at some previous
  pages where the expense is shown as, say, 78 crore instead of100 crore as mentioned in the P&L (profit and loss) ac-
  count? The AO would then (mistakenly) make an addition
  of `22 crore.”
  Some tax experts also think e-as-
  sessments will lead to more disputes.
  Amit Maheshwary, Managing Partner
  at Gurgaon-based Ashok Maheshwary
  & Associates, says, “Unless you meet
  taxmen face to face, it is difficult to ex-
  plain things. You think you can do it all
  on mail, but I think a lot of additions
  are happening because of this and a lot
  many disputes will also come up.”
  Then there are certain types of
  assessments – say, those related to
  transfer pricing – which are difficult
  to complete online. Transfer pricing is
  not strictly based on a set of rules and
  largely depends on economic interpre-
  tations. Explaining all these in writing
  will be slightly challenging.

Wait and Watch

Dasgupta, however, says tax officials

are fully aware of these difficulties.

Incidentally, he has not come across

complex cases which have been picked

for e-assessments. On the other hand,

there have been instances when cases

were initially picked for e-assessment,

but later on, the tax department asked

for a detailed face-to-face scrutiny.

Nidhi Goyal, Managing Partner

at Delhi-based Avinav Consulting,

also gives the department the benefit

of the doubt. According to her, the department allows one

to clarify if there are adjustments or erroneous statements.

The authorities will not send any notice if they are satisfied

with the return filing. Otherwise, they will issue a notice for

a proper assessment. “If assessees file their returns properly,

in sequential order, with every paper tagged with their ap-

plications, the matter is usually resolved. If you try to goof

up, if you try to mix things up and avoid certain entries, and

then ask for meetings (with tax officers) and fix it with the

‘help’ of the officers, the problems start,” she says.

@Dipak_Journo

Jagatramka is not the only one to voice his concern. Sev-
eral chartered accountants and tax experts dealing with their
clients’ IT assessments say that the existing system is far from
faceless and anonymous. “Right now, both assessee and AO
know each other. Unlike what is made out to be, it is not an
anonymous procedure yet. It is called e-assessment just for
the sake of it; the assessee knows who the AO is, he goes there
and get ‘things’ done,” says Rajat Mohan, Partner at the Del-
hi-based CA firm AMRG & Associates.
Partho Dasgupta, Partner, Tax and Regulatory Practices,
at BDO India, elaborates it further. “Today, we have jurisdic-
tion-based division of tax officials. Based on where you are
filing returns, you would know who the
AO is. Even if it is an e-assessment, no-
tices come from a specif ic e-mail id w ith
the name of the officer mentioned.”
However, this loophole could be
plugged soon. As Sitharaman explained
in her Budget speech, the government
is trying to build a system where the
mail will be sent from a common ID.
When assessees respond, those mail
messages will be sorted at the backend
before reaching the officers concerned.

Meetings a Necessity
Tax assessment is a complex proce-
dure and assessees need to do a lot of
explaining in most of the cases. And
doing it over e-mail alone may not be
feasible for all. Explaining a particular
entry, say an expense, a deduction or an
asset valuation, often requires face-to-
face interactions with the tax officer.
According to tax experts, assess-
ments involving simple returns – those
without any scope of (tax) addition or
deletion – could be ideal for e-proce-
dure, but complex cases almost always
require face-to-face discussions with
taxmen. Besides, tax laws are open to
interpretation, and certain business
activities/transactions may lead to
an unnecessary tax burden if proper
clarifications are not provided.
Dasgupta of BDO India says written submissions will
always lead to a gap in understanding and verbal explana-
tions in the presence of tax officials may help resolve the
issues. “If I meet someone and explain in a much more lu-
cid manner what I had intended to write, it becomes easier
for everyone. But if I write the same thing in a much more
technical language, it becomes very difficult to under-
stand.” He pushes his point with the court analogy, where
it is not the written submission, but the way arguments are
made that decides a case.
There is a technical snag as well. At times, tax officers
ask for a lot of documents, but the attachment size of a sin-

E-assessment

was introduced in 2016

on a pilot basis. It was

started in five cities:

Ahmedabad, Bengaluru,

Chennai, Delhi and

Mumbai

1,014

CASES WERE ASSESSED

THROUGH THIS MODE IN

2015/16

Around

80,000

CASES WERE SELECTED

IN 2017/18