Ease of Doing Business; Less Governance; More Intrusion and Complication
IT seems the babus are out to defame the Modi Government. Just look at the information they want in the new Income Tax Returns they notified last week.
In the new Forms, assessees are required to give details of all the bank accounts (including closed ones) held by them any time during the year with the closing balance as on 31.3.2015. If an assessee has travelled abroad, he has to give details of his travel including the expenses for the travel. In trying to catch the black money hoarders, the Government is trying to harass the white money holders. Your bank account is not a secret, nor is your foreign travel. Most probably the Income Tax authorities already have that information. In any case what are they going to do with the mountain of information?
Anyway good sense seems to have dawned and it is reported that the Finance Minister who is abroad has called up the Revenue Secretary and asked him the review the forms. Most probably new forms will be notified soon. But why should they make paying tax and filing a return so complicated?