Income Tax Department launches Faceless Income tax appeals

The Income Tax Department today launched the Faceless Income Tax Appeals. In a statement, CBDT said, under it, all income tax appeals will be finalised in a faceless manner with the exception of appeals relating to serious frauds, major tax evasion, sensitive and search matters, International Tax and Black Money Act.

On August 13, 2020, while launching the Faceless Assessment and Taxpayers' Charter, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced to launch the faceless appeals on the birth anniversary of Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhayay, i.e. on September 25, 2020.

Income Tax Department in a tweet today said, "The @IncomeTaxIndia today launched Faceless Income Tax Appeals. Under Faceless Appeals, all Income Tax appeals will be finalised in a faceless manner under the faceless ecosystem with the exception of appeals relating to serious fraud."

CBDT said, now there will be no physical interface between the taxpayers or their counsel and the Income Tax Department. The taxpayers can make submissions from the comfort of their home and save their time and resources. The Faceless Appeal system will include allocation of cases through Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence under the dynamic jurisdiction with central issuance of notices which would be having Document Identification Number.

As part of dynamic jurisdiction, the draft appellate order will be prepared in one city and will be reviewed in some other city resulting in an objective, fair and just order. The faceless appeal will provide great convenience to the taxpayers. The new system will also be instrumental in imparting greater efficiency, transparency and accountability in the functioning of the Income Tax Department.

CBDT said that as on date there is a pendency of almost 4.60 lakh appeals at the level of the Commissioner in the Department. Out of this, about 88 per cent of the total appeals will be handled under the Faceless Appeal mechanism. It said that almost 85 per cent of the present strength of Commissioners (Appeals) shall be utilised for disposing of the cases under the Faceless Appeal mechanism.