I-T Dept launches TRPs to boost tax returns
Filing income tax returns has never been a walk in the park. In fact, the tediousness of this yearly ritual has become an opportunity for a handful of people who make a living out of filing returns for others, while most taxpayers happily oblige.
Now, the experience is about to change.
In what will provide major relief to around 3.5 crore tax payers in the country, the income tax department has started Register for Home Visit and Online Tax Help wherein a taxpayer can take help of trained professionals either online or at home.
All one needs to do is visit www.trpscheme.com and the experts facilitated by the department will assist in filing your I-T return. The query will be resolved through e-mail or phone within 24 hours, claims the department.
If a tax payer opts for home visit, a date and time is fixed when the Tax Return Preparer (TRP) can visit them for assistance.
The help desk will forward the query of the taxpayer to the nearest available TRP and fix the appointment by telephone. The TRP will then visit the taxpayer and render assistance, a finance ministry statement said.
The TRPs will be allowed to collect fee up to Rs 250 per return preparation and initially the facility for home visit would be available in few cities, including Bangalore, Chennai, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, New Delhi, and Patna. More cities would be included in the next phase. Taxpayers can call the TRP scheme call centre at 1800-10-23738 for more information. The scheme is an initiative of the I-T department to help small and marginal tax payers in filing their income tax returns. TRPs are self-employed graduates, trained by the department for filing of returns as well as quarterly TDS statements.
The I-T department also provides incentive to TRPs for preparing of returns.