Income tax assessments are being done in a faceless manner, this was stated by Shri Anurag Singh Thakur, Union Minister of State for Finance & Corporate Affairs, in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.

The Minister further stated that income tax assessments are being done in a faceless manner, except as provided hereunder:

(i) Assessment Orders in cases assigned to central Charges,

(ii) Assessment Order in cases assigned to International Tax Charges.

Faceless assessments have been initiated for the purposes of making assessment of total income or loss of the assessee under section 143(3) or 144 of the Income tax Act, 1961 to impart greater efficiency, transparency and accountability by eliminating the interface between the Assessing Officer and the assessee in the course of proceedings to the extent technologically feasible, optimising utilisation of the resources through economies of scale and functional specialisation and introducing a team-based assessment with dynamic jurisdiction, the Minister stated.

The Minister stated that till 10^th March, 2021, total of 82,072 assessment cases have been completed in faceless manner.

Giving more details, the Minister stated that an independent study to ascertain assessees' experiences in faceless manner is being conducted by National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER). Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) have a tripartite arrangement with NCAER for conducting this independent assessment of Faceless Assessment Scheme of the CBDT.

The Minister further stated that no proposal for scrutiny of GST assessment in a faceless mode is under consideration of the Government presently as the GST laws and rules made thereunder already provide for electronic filing and assessment of returns on the common portal. With regard to Serious Fraud Investigation Office the information is also nil.

Faceless income tax assessment: increases transparency and efficiency with limited exceptions for central and international charges. Faceless income-tax assessments have been instituted to assess total income or loss, removing direct officer-assessee interface to enhance efficiency, transparency and accountability, while employing team-based assessment and dynamic jurisdiction. The scheme excludes assessment orders assigned to central charges and to international tax charges. An independent evaluation of assessees' experiences has been commissioned, and no move to adopt faceless scrutiny for GST (which operates through electronic filing on a common portal) is currently under consideration.