TDS - FM Launches SMS Alert Service for about 2.5 crore salaried employees

By Vijay Kumar

THE other day, I met a clueless retired IRS Officer who found that his bank had deducted TDS from his pension, but it is not reflected in his 26AS and he had no clue as to what to do. I found a similarly placed Bank officer, who is still doing the rounds to get his TDS reflected in his 26AS.

Woe betide the ones who are covered under TDS - one small mistake and it doesn't get corrected for years.

Yesterday, the FM launched a new effort by the CBDT to directly communicate deposit of tax deducted, through SMS alerts to salaried taxpayers, at the end of every quarter.In case of a mismatch, they can contact their deductor for necessary correction. Simultaneously, SMS alerts will also be sent to deductors who have either failed to deposit taxes deducted or to e-file their TDS returns by the due date.

This initiative will initially benefit approximately 2.5 crore salaried cases. The CBDT will soon extend this facility to another 4.4 crore non-salaried taxpayers. The frequency of SMS alerts will be increased, once the process for filing TDS returns is streamlined to receive such information on a real-time basis.

Launching the scheme, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said,

1. better facilities and services to the taxpayers are central to Direct Tax Reforms.

2. The taxpayers have a right to know the deductions made from their salary/income on regular basis.

3. More and more taxpayer services have to be provided in order to make the people tax complaint.

4. Government is committed towards continuously upgrading tax payer services.