The Income Tax Gazetted Officers’ Association and Employees Federation have characterised the tax targets as irrational and unrealistic. They have also complained of “severe and persistent shortages of essential infrastructure” and sought an early meeting with the Chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) to sort out these issues.
“Even as the world ushers in the New Year with optimism and renewed hope, our members continue to remain deeply disillusioned, arising from the growing uncertainty and anxiety among members about their future career progression and prospects of promotion as well as adverse service conditions, weighed down by crushing work pressure, compelled to meet irrational and unrealistic targets and forced to function amid severe and persistent shortages of essential infrastructure,” a communication sent to CBDT Chairman by the Joint Council of Action comprising Income Tax Employees Federation & Income Tax Gazetted Officers’ Association said.
The communication, seen by businessline, further said that though these pressing issues have been consistently pursued and discussed with the Board and other authorities on several occasions, both through formal meetings and informal interactions and “our concerns, as well as the difficulties faced by our members, have been duly conveyed through successive communications, the progress on the ground has unfortunately remained either negligible or far from satisfactory.”
This communication has been sent at a time when net collection from direct taxes grew 8.82 per cent to over ₹18.38 lakh crore in the current fiscal till January 11, which is lower than expectations. In the Budget Estimate (BE) of Fiscal Year 2025-26, corporation tax is estimated at ₹10.82 lakh crore (indicating a growth of 10.4 per cent over RE 2024- 25). Taxes on income (excluding securities transaction tax) are estimated at ₹13.60 lakh crore in BE 2025-26 (recording a growth of 13.1 per cent over RE 2024-25). Experts say government may be on track to achieve the year-end target. However, it is on the back of significantly lower refunds being released to both corporate and individual taxpayers.
At the same time, complaints against CBDT are piling up as less than 15 per cent of complaints were resolved during the first 8 days of January, data from CPGRAMS (Centralized Public Grievance Redress And Monitoring System) show. Although the exact nature of the complaints is not known, it is widely believed that most of the complaints are related to refunds, as social media is flooded with grievances about delays in getting Income Tax refunds despite filing the returns on time.
The direct tax body is also facing staff shortage. Data from a written reply by Minister of State in the Finance Ministry Pankaj Chaudhary in Parliament last August showed the CBDT has a sanctioned strength of over 77,700, with more than 26,000 vacancies. This confirms a vacancy rate of approximately 34 per cent.
