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I N a simple thank you note in Hindi written on a ruled sheet of paper, unemployed Santacruz resident Ishak Mulla says of the small income tax refund that reached him: It is “the only money” he has seen in many months. His mill had shut down, he says, and the only travelling he has done since was to income tax offices, for months, to claim a tax refund.
The gratitude is hidden behind borrowed language skills and repeated grammatical errors. But for the office of the Income Tax Ombudsman, Mulla’s letter is “a measure of success” of an idea mooted by the Ministry of Finance. Hardayal Singh, a former Income Tax Department official himself and Mumbai’s first I-T Ombusdman, says: “This office is supposed to hear complaints related to deficiency and discrepancies in administrative affairs with regards to income tax refunds to citizens. It is more like a forum for resolution of disputes.” Nine months after the I-T Ombusdman’s office was established in Mumbai-the country’s third, after Kolkata and New delhi-there are many like Mulla who write in to appreciate the “speedy” and “fast track” hearing of their appeals. The countless rounds they have to make of I-T offices, sometimes for years, where administrative bureaucracy, paperwork and redtapism made getting refunds a near-impossible task are a thing of the past. Based in the city’s commercial hub at Nariman Point, “at an arm’s length from the Income Tax office”, the office ensures quick redressal of matters, which sometimes means “pulling up the offices which have been causing the delay.” In 2007, of the 337 complaints that reached the Ombudsman’s office, 34 had to be transferred-they had been posted from neighbouring states. “They came to know from press reports and the appeals have been pouring in since then. We were pleasantly surprised by the outcome.” In “over 75 per cent cases”, redressal has been quick, with the complainant having even making a visit to Singh’s neat room, where the only paperwork that distracts visitors is a book on tax laws apart from beautiful prints of Amrita Sher-Gill’s work. Most complainants, till now, have been senior citizens, widows and retirees who have been “otherwise running from pillar to post”. While most cases settled pertain to refunds being stuck with the department for years, some other cases have administrative bearings. In one instance, a citizen was caught in piles of paperwork after the department lost his share certificates. The Ombudsman’s office, in less than a month after receiving the appeal, ensured that he got duplicates of the certificates. But the most interesting so far is a 1993 case of a gentleman who was travelling regularly from Delhi to Mumbai (he had shifted residence to the capital) for a refund. Though it was a small amount, he had been to several offices seeking the refund, in vain. Finally, as a TADA court completed the sentencing of those convicted for the 1993 serial blasts, this gentleman’s 14year wait ended too. Singh, who describes his job as “justice to tax-payers”, ensured that the dues were paid. “He walked up to my office. And when he came, we were touched, for the gratitude that the office receives cannot be described. It may be a small amount, but it is his hard work that is finally going back to him,” Singh explains. Appeals come in all forms, some handwritten, some faxed and some even by e-mail. “Your job is to tell me. My job is to get it done after checking the facts and hearing both sides. In certain cases, a penalty is deducted from the erring officer’s office expenditure fund Our office, in short, is another word for fixing accountability. You get the refund, we fine-tune the process. It’s a win-win situation.” URL: http://epaper.indianexpress.com/Default.aspx?selpg=1400&selDt=03/31/2008&BMode=100 |
IE: Income Tax Ombudsman has become so popular with harried tax-payers: March 31, 2008
In Taxing Times
That the Income Tax Ombudsman has become so popular with harried tax-payers is a measure of the huge success his office has achieved in getting people their refunds……SMITA NAIR